Fushigi Yuugi: Tenkyoku Heiden
by MercuryMoon
Summary: Two hundred years after the summoning of Suzaku and Seiryuu, a new threat looms over the book world. Once again, the seishi are pitted against each other, a prophecy calls for unification of the countries, and a new group has proclaimed themselves the Four Gods. Welcome to the legend of Tenkyoku.
1. EP 01: In Rain They Come

_Disclaimer: Fushigi Yuugi and all its characters belong to Yuu Watase. However, anything relating to the Tenkyoku story is something I have come up by myself._

_Warnings: Violence, foul language, mention of rape, murder and sexual innuendos. _

**Fushigi Yuugi: Tenkyoku Heiden**

_She jolted awake. Even in her warm bed, she shivered. The last visages of the dream danced in her mind as she struggled to reorient herself in reality. She caught her breath and the lump in her throat slid down. What had visited her was no dream but rather a vision of things to come. Something was about to happen, something that not even her prophetic knowledge could prevent. It was greater than any other threat that had happened to their world before. "No," she whispered as her fingers tightened around the blankets. "No, I can't let that happen!"_

_She started to slide out of bed, but faltered. What if it really was a dream? But no, she knew the difference between dreams and actual visions. Trying to act on it though had the potential of creating just as big of a catastrophe. If she did nothing though… It was going to happen whether or not she could try, but by the Gods, she would try her best. _

_Resolved, she got out of bed and went through the secret passage that connected her room to her cousin's. It was lucky that they were both seishi or they never would have gotten such a convenient place. She could also reach the other seishi from her room, but it was to her cousin that she went first. Once she was in his room, she padded over to his bed where he lay sprawled among his covers._

_"Wake up!" she hissed. "Wake up!"_

_Her cousin stirred in his sleep. She was loathe to disturb him, but this was too important. She shook him._ _"Kouki! Wake up!"_

_He snapped awake. She dodged as a stray stone flew by her head. "Ah! What is it? Are we under- oh. Demiya! What are you-" he froze as he saw the expression on her face. "What's wrong?"_

_Demiya took a seat at the foot of his bed as he rubbed his eyes. Just being in his presence was calming her and giving her a chance to analyze the dream. "I.. I had a vision," she said._

_Her cousin was instantly alert. "About what?"_

_"The five countries at war with each other, and outside forces taking advantage of that to terrorize the people and bully us. It was just flashes, but-"_

_"Five?" Kouki interrupted. "Nyosei joined the war? How is that possible? They've never bothered anyone except those who set foot on their island."_

_She gave him a look. He blinked, and his fingers curled around his blanket. "You're not serious."_

_"I am." she took a deep breath. "Nyosei will play a significant role in whether or not my vision comes to pass. Nyosei and…" her voice trailed off. They didn't know. No one really knew what country Tenkyoku was supposed to protect. The only possible one was Nyosei, the country of women. Women who despised anything male ruled by a god? Impossible. Then there was Tenkyoku. Even more so than the other Gods, Tenkyoku was shrouded in mystery. But if Nyosei was involved in the war, surely Tenkyoku had something to do with it. _

_"Tenkyoku," Kouki whispered. "So he really does exist. The rumors are true."_

_They sat in silence together across from each other.__Both knew that__Tenkyoku was the fifth God, the God of the Center, just as their own God was God of the West. Tenkyoku's element was earth, and he was the Emperor of the Heavens with the other four Gods as his vanguards. By all rights, he should have been Taiitsukun, but no, Taiitsukun was alive and well and did not need to be Summoned. He had been the one who distributed the scrolls with the incantations to Summon the four Beast Gods to begin with. Everyone knew this, not just the seishi. _

_Demiya closed her eyes, willing the vision to go away. Surely the seishi from the other countries would understand the gravity of the situation. They had to. Traditionally their country had never been the aggressor. They had to realize that she was serious. They couldn't be so self-centered, could they? She had not had the opportunity to meet some of the other seishi from the other countries, but Hokuyu had. He could convince them. Maybe she was putting too much faith in her fellow seishi, but Hokuyu knew things. Hokuyu was the one who traveled the most, kept an eye on the comings and goings of the government. He had to, being a diplomat. _

_"What should we do about it?" Kouki finally asked. "I mean, if you foresaw it, there's still a chance we can do something, right?"_

_She bit her lip and looked down. Even though he knew the futility of trying to fight destiny, he was still going to resist it. That itself gave her courage. Surely if he believed so strong, that belief could be turned into something greater. "I'm not sure what to think of it. You'd think after all the Gods were Summoned, we'd finally have peace, right?"_

_At this, he laughed. "Don't forget, Gods or not, they protect humans. We create our own troubles. Just because the countries are blessed doesn't mean that there will always be peace. Otherwise, we wouldn't be human. We'd be..."_

_She glared at him. "Don't talk like that."_

_He reached over and wrapped his arms around her trembling figure, pulling her close. His warmth reassured her, and she slowly stopped shaking. When she was ready to speak, she raised her head. "Kouki," she whispered. "If what I saw comes to pass, it will be far worse than anything that the countries have encountered. But… what it calls for, it could come down to seishi fighting seishi." She buried her face in his chest. "What do we do?"_

_He had stiffened at her words, and there was a coldness in her breast that even he could not reduce. Her cousin was brave, but even he balked at the idea of going against his fellow seishi. It was something that had only happened during Seiryuu and Suzaku's time, over a hundred years ago. His head dropped onto her shoulder, and he laughed. "We... we are never reincarnated into peace, are we? But then again, that's what our role is. Harbingers of doom."_

_"Kouki-"_

_He cut her off. "I won't let that happen. I promise. What do we need to do?"_

_"We," she buried her face into his shoulder, not wanting to say it. "We may end up interfering with..." her eyes slid up to meet his as she still hesitated to tell him, but he looked away, knowing the answer and hating it._

_"Do we have a choice?" he asked. "If it comes down to the four countries, which one is more important?"_

_"The others won't approve."_

_"Shiran will, and he'll be able to convince Hokuyu. The others will be easier. What else?"_

_"Unify the countries," she said, her voice barely audible. "Unify them, or we don't stand a chance against what is to come."_

**Episode One: In Rain They Come**

His life was about to change but he had no idea and he just didn't care, not to mention it was always changing on him anyway, usually in negative ways. He needed to get out of the storm, that was the most important thing. He rode his bike against the rain, fighting to see through the fog on his glasses. The day had started off sunny with just a bite of the passing winter in the air, but sometime while he had been working at the grocery store, clouds had rolled over grey skies and released a heavy shower over Tokyo. People started rushing, eager to return home. That was exactly what he wanted to do, too.

But then there was his sister.

Leaving his sister to walk home alone in the rain would be irresponsible, so here he was.

He rode quickly, so fast that he almost skidded a few times. Luckily, he was experienced. After the third time though, he forced himself to slow down. It wasn't worth risking his life just to show up on time. If his sister got out before he got there, well, he was biking down her regular route. He would see her one way or another. Neither of them had expected the weather to take such a sudden turn, especially in March, so they weren't dressed for that weather. At least for himself he was able to borrow a yellow rain poncho from the grocery store. His sister? No such luck. Good thing then that he'd been able to grab an umbrella for her.

He slid off his bike and came to a stop at a traffic light that had just turned red. As he waited for the light to turn green, someone called his name. He looked around and spotted his sister on the other side of the street. Someone he couldn't quite make out because of the crowd around them stood with her holding an umbrella over her head. Whoever it was though was having an animated conversation with her. A friend? Maybe he hadn't needed to come all the way here then, especially when he had taken early leave from his shift, which meant he was losing out on much-needed pay. He really needed to get the two of them cellphones, but at the moment they only had enough money to maintain a land-line When the light was green, the two of them made their way over to him, threading around the other pedestrians. Nazo had been riding in the bike lane, but he pulled over to the trashbin on the sidewalk, where fewer people walked by.

As the two of them came closer, Nazo stiffened. He recognized the boy with Nari as Otoya Yuta, the younger brother of an old classmate of his. The familiar guilt that always came with any thoughts about Kari washed over him. "Hello, Otoya," he said with all the respect expected from one speaking to another junior to him. "Thank you for walking with my sister."

"Yes, thank you so much, Otoya," she added with a shy smile.

Otoya said nothing, only looked past him. He seemed to find the people walking past them awfully interesting. "Wasn't a bother," he said finally, directing his attention to Nari. "Couldn't let you walk out in the pouring rain alone, unlike some people."

Nazo bristled, but he held his tongue. He handed the umbrella he had brought with him from the grocery store to his sister and she opened it, holding it over both their heads. Otoya nodded to her and disappeared into the crowd. As soon as he was gone, Nazo slipped out of his poncho and handed it over to Nari. "Here. You must be freezing. Take this," he said as he zipped the jacket up for her and brushed what water he could off.

Nari pulled the poncho around herself and smiled. "Thank you," she said.

He shrugged. Nari glanced at him. "He didn't mean it that way by the way," Nari said as they started down the sidewalk. "I was walking back, and there were a bunch of people walking past me. He was the only one who stopped and offered to walk me home."

No, Nazo thought privately. He did mean it that way. Nari didn't know, but Otoya had reason to hate him. The younger man probably saw him as unreliable and selfish. Nazo didn't blame him. After he had dropped out of school, he had deliberately cut off contact with all his friends, even Kari, Otoya's older sister. He had done it out of necessity because it would have hurt even more when his friends started college, a path he should have taken, but to Otoya, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that Nazo had broken Kari's heart. In retrospect, Nazo agreed with him, because Kari was the kind of person who would have stood by him, even if she had her own life to take care of. By not giving her that chance, he had severed any chance of anything further than friendship developing, a dream he had once coveted.

He started pushing his bike. "How was your day?" he asked.

He heard a sigh from Nari, which he knew was because he had changed the subject. It wasn't fair to keep things like her, but Otoya was a senior of hers. He didn't want to prejudice her against him. Besides, that had been nice of him to do that for her.

"We reviewed in a lot of my classes since exams are coming up, but other than that, not really anything," Nari replied. "I also went to the library during lunch to catch up some reading."

Nazo nudged her with his elbow. "Going to ace all those exams, aren't you? Taking after me?"

"Of course!"

He hid a smile. His sister was doing better these days, much better than the first year the two of them had ended up on their own. More than anything else, she had to finish her education. High school wasn't compulsory, but she had to attend high school if she wanted to go to college. He wasn't giving her a choice about it. His sister was only a minor and if he proved unable to support her, the two of them would be separated. He shoved it deep into the back of his mind where it continued to fester. As always when he was feeling down, he was in the mood for something hot to drink.

"By the way," he said. "Want to hit a cafe today?"

Nari glanced at him. "We have the money for it?"

"Let's not worry about that now?"

She smiled faintly, and Nazo shifted the umbrella so it was more than halfway over his sister's head. He draped an arm around her shoulders and she looked up at him gratefully. The two of them reached an unspoken agreement and they began hurrying along as fast as they could go while pushing his bike. Due to the vast amount of pedestrians and umbrellas however, they weren't able to go as quickly as they liked and it took them ten minutes to get away from downtown Tokyo to a calmer area. Soon they reached an alcove and stopped to rest.

"Which one should we go to?" she asked.

"Where do you want to go?" Nazo asked. "I'm good wherever you want."

"Caffe Veloce, I guess," she replied. "Want to grab something to eat there, too? The food isn't bad."

He mulled over that for a moment. They were tight on money this month as usual, but he supposed since they were splurging with the drinks, they might as well go all the way. He thought of the box filled with money that he'd saved up for emergencies. There wasn't much left. Was he being fiscally irresponsible by making this decision?

Nari stopped walking and grabbed his arm, yanking him so that they faced each other. "You're worrying too much again, aren't you? We don't have to. We can just go home."

"No," he hastily responded. "We'll be fine for this month."

Nari said nothing as she studied him for a moment, but he could tell that hadn't satisfied her. He knew he was being overprotective, but he was scared. He didn't want to lose her either. With their parents' savings only able to support them for another year or so, he wasn't sure what he could do to prove that he could take care of her by himself. Hope to get promoted? Get another job? He was already working two. Ask her to get a job herself? At a time most crucial to her? He couldn't do that.

Nari nudged him, and he realized that she had let him go. Quickly he apologized and began walking again. She went alongside him. "Let me take the umbrella," she said. "You have enough work, what with the bike and all."

True. They'd probably be able to move faster if Nari were holding the umbrella. He handed it over to her, and the two of them crossed the street. Caffe Veloce was right on the corner. The cafe had an American feel to it, even from the outside. The lettering of the sign was in bold English, white on red. It wasn't one they frequented, but the prices were cheap and the selection decent. As his hand touched the doorknob, it shocked him, causing him to lose his grip. He lurched forward, banging his head against the door. His hand snagged onto the edge of the wall and he managed to catch himself and swing in time to see the yellow dragon rushing at him. He had just thrown up his arms when the beast flowed to a stop before him.

It was a sleek creature, more like the Eastern dragons of myth than the Western ones that had gotten popular recently. There were no wings, only what seemed to be an endless length of waves. Its scales shimmered in a light that shone from its serpentine body. He didn't think he could back away any more than he already had, but somehow he did it.

"Nazo?"

The beast regarded him with thoughtful amber eyes. Nazo realized with a shock that the space where there would have normally been two horns rising from its head was empty. That was when he glanced down and noticed why it had no need for horns. Ten very sharp claws rested around his torso. Ten. Not the usual six or eight. He tried to edge away again, to warn Nari, but no sound came out. That was when the dragon leaned forward and touched foreheads with him.

A soothing calm spread through him, warming him down to his toes. Worry? When had he been worried about this gigantic creature eating him? It was only an illusion. Had to be. Dragons weren't real. Yet the dragon before him was just so... beautiful.

_Soon_, the creature said.

"Nazo!" Nari's concerned voice broke through.

Nazo jolted awake. He found himself leaning with his back against the wall in an attempt to catch his breath. There was no sign of the dragon except for the warmth that was ebbed away. Wait. Dragon? How the hell-

He glanced around. "Did you see-"

Nari stared at him, confused. Her face, normally pale, had even less color than usual. "You haven't been working too much, have you?"

Nazo shook his head. "Not any more than the usual."

Nari stared at him again but didn't question his statement. He smiled to reassure her. "Just wanting that hot drink, I guess."

He could tell what he'd said didn't appease her but she wasn't going to delve any deeper. It wasn't her style. Nazo pushed himself off the wall, noting that whatever had caused the heavy rainstorm earlier was now gently clearing it away. Did it have anything to do with the dragon he'd just seen? Because he had to have seen it, but why hadn't Nari commented on it? His head pounded and his hand went to the side that hurt the most. He squeezed his eyes shut. Inside, a few curious patrons were turning heads to observe him. He averted his face to avoid their scrutiny. "Come on," he said a bit gruffer than he liked. He adjusted his glasses, which had slipped down his nose, locked his bike, and opened the door, this time without incident.

As they entered, a bell tinkled, announcing their entrance. A rush of warm air hit them instantly, completely different from the chilliness outside. The last pieces of the vision slipped from his grasp, settling into the back of his mind. To his relief, any patrons who had seen what had happened outside were no longer paying attention. Looking around, he saw they weren't the only people to have taken shelter in the coffee shop; over ten couples sat at individual booths and tables as they chatted happily together. Several of them had their hands surrounded around steaming cups of coffee. Some of them also had sandwiches. Nazo could certainly see why; he would have enjoyed the rising heat, too, along with the delicious smells.

No one paid attention to them as Nazo led his sister to an empty booth at the back of the bar away from all the windows. A bookshelf stood to their far right, and several fake plants shielded them on the left. Other than that, there wasn't much decoration. "Take a seat, Nari. We'll stay here until our clothes dry off," he said and led her to the opposite side of the table. They removed their outer layers and folded them carefully. Nazo started to leave, but noticed she was still shivering. As he still had two sweaters on underneath, he unraveled the scarf around his neck and gently laid it around her shoulders. "Wrap this around yourself. I'll be right back."

There was no line at the counter, so Nazo stepped up to the first cashier. He flinched when he saw who it was: Kari, Otoya's older sister who had once been a good friend of his. There might have even been more if- no. He wouldn't let himself think about that again. He bit his lip. Best to discourage her now instead of disappointing her later. That was how he felt, but looking at her made that decision a hard one.

Instead of letting her hair down as she used to, the girl had pulled her sleek black hair into a bun. It was the first time seeing someone from his past since he'd dropped out, and it felt good, surprising since he had avoided everyone like the plague when the events had unfolded the way they had in the beginning.

Or at least it felt good until he realized he had to actually talk. Then he looked down at the counter.

Silence.

He was just about to turn away and tell Nari that they needed to go to another cafe when Kari spoke first. "Naz-, I'm sorry. Shimajima! I haven't seen you for ages! How.. how have you been? And what would you like to order?"

"All right," he said coolly. "It's not easy, but Nari and I are hanging on."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, then paused. "You're... really all right with not going to college though? You would have done really well, I think."

"Eh. Nothing I can do about it now. Anyway, Nari needs me."

He was remembering why he didn't like seeing anyone again. It was bad enough that he had dropped out, but the way he had treated his friends after that had only made matters worse. Now he had the strangest urge to just get out of there, but he didn't, couldn't make himself move. Nazo could only pray that she wouldn't think to dig any further and just concentrate on being a cashier. Unfair of him, since they had been extremely close friends during high school, even founding the mythology club together, but he couldn't help it. He wasn't ashamed of what he had done either, but he hated people gossiping, and he was positive that as soon as she got off work today, she would call up all his old friends and exclaim about how she had run into him today. Then one by one, they'd all try to contact him, and he'd have to come up with a multitude of excuses to break off any engagements or meetings they might want to make. If there was one thing he hated, it was pity. He didn't want other people to think he couldn't support his sister. What kind of brother would he be if he couldn't help the one person who needed him most?

He drummed his fingers on the counter. He didn't want to meet her eyes in case she tried to make small talk. Worse, he didn't want to see that sympathetic look that had to be on her face. The safest place then was at the cash register. Or the menu. Anywhere but near her. "Could I have a cappuccino?" he finally asked.

"That'd be 120 yen please," Kari said and punched in his order. "Ken, one cappuccino order!" she called out to her co-workers behind her. "Make sure it's nice and toasty!"

"In five minutes!" Ken shouted back.

She hummed a little to herself as Nazo pulled out his wallet and counted the money out. To his relief, he saw that she didn't seem too miffed by his behavior, at least outwardly. That made things easier for him. "Here you go," he said when he had the correct sum. "150. Keep the change since it's stormy today."

"Thank you," Kari said, and a genuine smile crept across her face. "You're still as nice as you were in high school. Glad to see that. I was afraid-"

Nazo shrugged, cutting her off. "Don't know if that's a good thing or not. That means I'm easy to take advantage of, right?"

Kari laughed. "But still cynical, hm? Anyway, your number is 72. Feel free to check out any of the books or magazines in the corner while you're waiting for your order. Our manager ordered a ton of mythology and occult books from the library. You know, that annual book sale they have to get rid of unpopular books. They've just been rotting over there, and some of them seem like they might be your thing."

Nazo nodded, acknowledging what she had said but paying no real attention to it. He backed away from the counter and returned to their booth. Quickly he scanned the room and was relieved to see no one else he recognized. The chances of seeing someone else was pretty small, but he doubted he would be able to take another surprise encounter. With a sigh, he took a seat and looked over to see what his sister was doing.

Nari had taken some books from the shelf next to them and was flipping through the pages. How she was going to get through them in the hour or so that they'd be spending here he didn't know, but all right, fine with him. Maybe she was just going to flip through them and if she saw any she liked, look for them at the school library so she could check them out there. He smiled to himself. It was just like her to do that. She always preferred books to magazines, which the cafe also had plenty of.

"Check these books out," Nari said softly. "Some of them are really old. I wonder how this cafe got a hold of them."

"Hocked them?" he suggested and laid his head on the table. He was suddenly tired and considered finding an excuse so they could leave early. He decided against that though, since it looked like his sister was having fun. "If they're that rare, they probably got them through the black market or something. Cashier mentioned something about her manager getting them from some library book sale. Who knows, maybe some idiot stuck in a few books he couldn't sell off on E-bay."

"Nazo!" Nari scolded. "Why are you always so sarcastic?"

Nazo shrugged. "Only because you're so impractical and need to get your head down from the clouds."

Nari shot him a dirty look and ignored his comment, which he conceded to be a victory on his part. "Some of these even have legends written in them. See? Remember this one? It's the story of how the Star Festival came to be."

This one certainly caught his attention, and Nazo glanced over. He remembered the legend of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl. She had been from the heavens, he from the earth. Their love had been a star-crossed one, and although they had shared a few happy moments together, they had ultimately been forced to separate by the Emperor of the Heavens. Now it was only the pity of the magpies that enabled the pitiful couple to meet once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month. His grandmother had told it to him many a stormy night, and the story had been imprinted in his sharp mind. It was one of his favorites, and sometimes he liked to wonder if he would be as strong as the Cowherd if he were to be separated from his own girlfriend, regardless of the fact that he didn't have one and probably wouldn't find one for quite some time.

Details, it was all details.

The truth was, although he acted so mocking of the old stories, Nazo loved them. They had occupied his mind many a rainy day, just as they had started to today. The virtues of the characters were almost inhuman, written like a story, and since they were, he had his serious doubts that anyone could be like them.

Still.. if he could ever be that strong..

"Remember that story about the four Gods of China?" Nari asked, interrupting his thoughts. She lifted a slim red book off her lap. When Nazo saw the book, he felt a twinge of recognition in his heart even though he had never seen it before. He pushed it down.

"I found something talking about it here," Nari continued. "Do you want to read it?"

"Four Gods, blah.." he said. "Sure, why not? Will give me something to do to pass the time anyway." He took the book from his sister and flipped to the first page. His heart suddenly began to pound loudly, and his breath quickened. The page was charred and difficult to read, and parts of it had already started to crumble in the heated room. Everything was handwritten, odd in an age when the printer had already been invented for centuries. Nazo wiped his glasses off, then put them back on. "Universe of the Four Gods," he read aloud. "Translator: Okuda Einosuke.

"Okuda Einosuke," he noted softly to himself. Intriguing that something like this show up in a modern coffee place. The writer had been famous during the Taisho era if he remembered correctly. Nazo was familiar with his work if only because he had translated and published many folklore tales. He flipped to what would have been the title page and scanned through it quickly.

"Sounds pretty good," Nari said as she leaned over her brother's shoulder. "Read what's under that, will you?"

"This is the story of a girl who gathered the Seven Seishi of Tenkyoku, and acquired the power to make every wish come true," Nazo continued, the sense of foreboding strengthening. "The story itself is an incantation. Whoever finishes the book shall receive this great power. As soon as the page is turned, the story will become the truth and begin." A roaring sound filled his ears and adrenaline coursed through his body. He slammed the book shut, suddenly irritated. "What kind of BS is this? Why does it have to be a girl? Is it some kind of 'choose-your-own-adventure' story?"

"You don't have to read it," Nari said as she shrugged. "Go grab something else from the bookshelf. Or read about Orihime or some other random legend. Love to see you fanboy over her. And I know for a fact that you used to pretend you were Hikoboshi, longing for his Orihime."

Nazo waved her off. "Liar. You're just dreaming that up. I can't be Hikoboshi without an Orihime."

Nari grinned. "Keep telling yourself that, my dear closet romantic brother."

Nazo snorted. "Hey, you have your fangirl moments, too, which by the way, are far worse than mine. Don't even get started on me."

"Number 72!" Kari called from the counter.

Nazo stood up and pushed his chair in, glad for the excuse to get away from the book. "I'm going to grab your cappuccino. Be right back."

Nari nodded. "Got it," she said with a grin. She reached for the book again and flipped it open.

A flash of yellow light wrapped around him like a blanket. He froze. Glancing down, he saw that his hand was fading away. "What-" he shouted as he abruptly turned around. His sister was disappearing before his eyes. "Nari!" To his shock, he realized that his voice, too, was losing its strength in the light. "Nari!"

His sister screamed his name soundlessly, her face contorted.

They reached for each other, but before their vanishing fingers could reach, the light swallowed them up and the book snapped shut.

x

"Number 72!" Kari called again. When no one showed up, Kari frowned and picked up the cappuccino and walked towards the direction Nazo had gone. He was nowhere in sight. She pursed her lips curiously and set the cappuccino on the table. "Where did he go.." she asked thoughtfully. Had the meeting been so unpleasant and awkward that he had had to leave as quickly as possible? Then she caught sight of a red knit scarf lying there draped on a chair and smiled to herself. It had to be her friend's, although she didn't know why he had left it there. Could he have gone to the restroom? There was a book next to the scarf, still open. Kari leaned down to see what it was.

"Universe of the Four Gods?" she asked herself as she examined the tattered old tome. "What is that?"

She recognized the author's name however. Okuda Einosuke graced many of the books in her own home. Useful whenever their club needed something new to look at. Odd to see something of his here. She had never seen this book before and from the looks of it was merely a manuscript. How had the manager acquired this? From the book sale? Or had Nazo brought it himself? She didn't see the customary tag that indicated it belonged to the cafe. She closed the book. It was all very curious. Something compelled her to hold onto it and she carried it with her to the counter along with the cappuccino. Ken gave her an odd look.

"The guy who ordered the drink left?" Ken asked her.

Kari nodded. "Yeah, he's nowhere in sight. Seems he left his scarf and book, too. I'll have to get it back to him next time I see him."

Ken raised an eyebrow. "You know him?"

"Yeah," she replied as she placed the book into her bag.

He turned away. "Didn't seem that happy to see you."

"Long story," was her response, thus closing the conversation. Kari rubbed the scarf between her fingers. She started to put it in her bag, but hesitated. The chance encounter today with her old friend was cheering, even though he barely talked to her. Nazo had changed, but the core of him remained the same. He had had to grow up very quickly after his parents had died in their first year of college. No matter how Kari and her friends had tried to reach out to him, he had always turned away. At home, Yuta's scathing remarks about her friend stung her, but it was a relief to even hear about Nazo, a secret she guarded closely lest her brother's rants worsen. Her stomach flipped. Even now, Nazo was unreachable.

She tucked the scarf into the bag after the book. Maybe after work, she could call Nazo and let him know he'd forgotten his stuff. It'd be an excuse to talk to him again and maybe that could lead to the renewal of their friendship.

Yeah, that would work splendidly. A book and a scarf to fix a fragmented relationship. Funny to think of them as key to what she wanted most. Still, she could hope. One never said she couldn't.

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_Next episode:_ The Dangers of a Y Chromosome - Landing in Nyosei definitely isn't too lucky for poor Nazo...

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_A/N: Hi! Thanks for checking this out. I realize the date on this is quite old, but it's because I put the story on hiatus for a while and finally picked it up again. Trying to update at least semi-regularly now. ^^ If the story seems familiar to anyone, it is because this is sort of a combination of a trilogy I had planned for Fushigi Yuugi years ago. First version was The Seven Constellations of Taiitsukun, which became Misted Flame and Flight Unearthed, which you can find in my profile. There was also Tenkou's story and Nazunu/Nazuno (my original gods for Nyosei)'s story. Scrapped the third one for the most part, although I did keep a few of the characters. The other two stories were never posted here, only on my Geocities website, which is now down. I have done a huge revamp for this story based on my most recent version of MFaFU, but there are still remnants of the story in this one. This story will obviously focus more on the Tenkyoku seishi however. I did more research recently and found out that the animal that represents Tenkyoku has sometimes been attributed to Kouryuu, aka the Yellow Dragon. Huanlong in Chinese. So. ^^' I'm working to incorporate that into the story now. If you see another animal though, it'll be because of the country._

_One thing I want to note is that I will not be using honorifics in the story. I do not understand them well enough, and I'm worried about messing them up, so I will just use the most basic Japanese rules. Last name, First name. Calling people by their last names (ex. Otoya Yuta, Nazo calls him Otoya). He would also normally use Otoya instead of Kari, but I figured it'd be easier to distinguish between the two if he used Kari. That and since the two of them used to be good friends..._

_-About the cowherder and weavergirl... I realize that there is actually a much darker version of the story, but since the one I mentioned is the one I actually grew up with and I also just found out about that version recently, I decided to stick with my interpretation. _

_-Regular dragons in Chinese mythology tend to have three or four. Only imperial dragons have five, hence Nazo's surprise._

_-I feel like I should mention this, but there will be spoilers for Genbu Kaiden. I originally wasn't going to, but the way the story ended was just so.. perfect. I really want to address it here! I can't promise that I'll be able to portray the characters well, but I am definitely going to do my best._

_I hope you enjoy the story, because it is quite a lot of fun for me to write!_


	2. EP 02: Dangers of a Y Chromosome

**Episode Two: The Dangers of a Y Chromosome**

The first thing that stuck out was that the back of his head hurt. Then he realized that his entire body was sore, and he lay on the ground eagle-spread. His muscles ached, but Nazo still felt so warm and comfortable. A breeze brought in the faint smell of the ocean and he felt sand underneath his body. The sun bathed down on him, and his damp hair had already dried. For once, it was not raining. Idly he wondered if he were dreaming or not and turned over on his side and let out a loud snore. If he were, this snore would wake up Nari and she'd whack him until he woke up.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

That didn't sound like Nari's voice. Probably a dream then.

"Seems like a man and a woman from the looks of it, although we don't know for sure that they aren't both men."

Huh? Nari was definitely a girl, he thought drowsily to himself. If she wasn't, then, well. He'd been fooled for a good sixteen years. Nazo let himself continue to drift in that dreamlike state. As he lay there, the voices continued to poke at him and question his being. He yawned and draped his arm on his forehead, frowning as he did that. Great. He finally got to rest for a bit only to be continually bothered by all this nonsensical incessant chatter.

"Oy! This here is a fine specimen! I haven't seen someone like him before!"

"Should we treat him?"

"What about the girl next to him?"

"We can ignore the girl; perhaps she can be taken in as one of us later. Preferably after she runs the gauntlet though and has her sex checked. That will let us know for sure."

"Hey! What's that squirrel doing here?"

Nazo stirred and shifted back to his original position. A soft, cold hand was running along his cheek. "What the hell?" he murmured groggily as he forced his heavy eyelids open for a few seconds and saw a glimmering orb right in his line of sight. It seemed like he really was in a dream right now, but always women had never approached him in those dreams; it had always been him doing a lame attempt on hitting on a hot girl. Perhaps the women he heard were in reality men with just extremely high voices. "Who the heck are you? Stop jabbing me, will you?"

"What strange clothes he has," the feminine voice murmured.

"What is that transparent metal on his eyes?" someone else asked.

"Doesn't matter what it is," another voice said as the owner poked him in the ribs. "He must still have his eyes gouged out, same as the other men who find their way to this island."

At the words "gouged out," Nazo snapped awake. He abruptly sat up and looked around him. A crowd of fierce-looking women had formed a half-circle while he slept, and they drew their weapons (an assortment that would have made any samurai proud) when they saw him up, pointing them down at him. Their outfits reminded him of Street Fighter, and all of them had their hair looped up on top of their heads twice or in buns. This was a dream, right? It had to be a dream because only a dream would transport him from modern Japan to some kind of beach paradise, only this wasn't a paradise because these women looked like they wanted to kill him. He spotted Nari was lying near to him, and an immense feeling of relief traversed through his body. His sister was safe. He knew it was selfish of him, but he wanted someone familiar with him in this strange new world he had apparently landed himself in.

A black-haired woman stepped forward and unsheathed her knife. "Now stay still, you handsome thing. It won't hurt for long.."

Nazo started backing away as fast as he could, edging carefully toward his sister at the same time. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the edge of a forest. If he could just grab Nari quickly and run into the trees, there was a chance they could escape. "What the hell do you plan on doing with that knife?" he asked.

She smiled, and Nazo immediately disliked the hungering way she was smiling at him. "You're a man," she said with a satisfied air. "And all men who arrive on this island must suffer the same treatment."

"Y'mean.." Nazo said, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"N-Nazo?" Nari suddenly asked. "Where are we?"

"All I know is we're getting out of here!" Nazo quickly made up his mind and seized his sister's hand. He started to run when he was stopped however by a spear to the back of his neck.

"What do you think you're doing?" the first woman asked. "You just arrived. Don't leave so soon. Stay for a while." She snapped her fingers, and one of the women stepped forward and wrestled Nari from Nazo. She cried sharply before a hand was clamped over her mouth.

Desperately Nazo made a grab for her, and the tip of the spear pierced the first layer of skin. He felt a trickle start to go down his neck. "I think I'll pass on your offer," he said with a grimace. "I'm sure there are plenty of other men who might be interested. Masochistic ones, at least."

"No, I think you're the one we want." She snapped her fingers again, and two more women left the circle and clamped their hands down on his wrists. His arms were pulled behind his back, restraining him successfully. They jerked him around so he was back to facing the group. Nazo tried to fight free, but the spear made another jab at him, this time at his shoulder. He bit down on his lip to prevent himself from crying out. "Now stay still," the woman said with a snicker. "We wouldn't want to have to do this twice now, would we?"

"I don't even-"

An explosion rocked the ground, and a cloud of smoke swirled around them. The women coughed and he heard shouts of warning about a bandit. Nazo felt the grips on him loosen, and he yanked himself free, stumbling as he did so. "Nari!" he screamed. "Nari! Where are y-" Someone snatched him from the side, cutting him off. The scene flashed away, and once again, he saw blackness.

**x**

When he opened his stinging eyes, the sun almost blinded him. He shielded his eyes with his arm and realized that once again, he was lying down. As his sight adjusted, he realized that he was lying on the forest floor, which was blanketed with pine needles. Nazo sat up and gasped as he caught his breath. His lower lip was still tingling. Cautiously his hand touched the back of his neck. It came away bloody. He checked behind his shoulder. Sore. The jab hadn't quite managed to pierce through his clothing. Barely! He had just barely managed to escape with his life! And why? All because he had the Y-chromosome!

"Shit, that was crazy," he swore and shook his head. Where the heck had he landed? And why was he here? The last he remembered, he had been at the café, ready to grab Nari's cappuccino. How had he gone from the café to a wacky place like this? Was it the book Nari had been looking at? But how was that possible? There was nothing in the world that could take them into a book! Nazo shook his head again. None of this made sense. That meant it was all a dream. But how? But the women had acted awfully strange for a dream. Regular dreams didn't cause pain, did they, and here he was with a pounding head and stinging neck. Worse, if this wasn't a dream, how was he going to get back? He still had bills to pay, his job to go back to!

Hell, he'd handle things one at a time. If he worried about everything at once, he'd get nothing done. First things first though. The women who had attacked Nari and him. Nazo rubbed his forehead. "What was up with all those women?" he asked out loud. "What do they have against men?!"

"Quite a lot," someone said from behind him, interrupting his thoughts.

Nazo whirled around so quickly he barely managed to catch himself from faceplanting in the dirt.

It was a girl. Simply a girl. She was fiddling with something around her neck, and her back was to him. As she turned around to face him, her dark blue eyes met his own and she smiled. Nazo instinctively tensed and he inched away. Great. Had he just jumped from the frying pan into boiling water? However, the manner she carried herself, the way she was smiling at him, was nothing like the women from earlier and he wondered if they could even be part of the same group. From what he could see, the girl's hair reached down to just above the middle of her back. They were actually tied into two ponytails with large blue beads as makeshift hairties. Her hair was all white, with the exception of turquoise tinges in her bangs (which were brushed to the side) and two locks framing her face. The locks each had two miniature versions of the blue beads in them. A brilliant blue robe trailed down to her knees, and she wore white pants underneath.

With as much dignity as possible for someone who had no idea what he was doing and had nearly eaten a mouthful of pine needles and dirt, he demanded, "Who the heck are you?"

"My name is Haien," the girl said and grinned. "I help strange men who arrive on this island escape to safety."

"Escape? Why do we need to escape?" Nazo drew in a deep breath to steady himself. He needed to keep his ability to reason here. "We're men! What's wrong with being male?"

She chuckled. "Did you hit your head or something? Didn't you know? This is Nyosei, the place where no man is safe."

"Nyosei?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "Women rule this place. They're the warriors here, and the men are their sex slaves. They're sometimes turned into other useful things, but let's not go there right now."

Nazo winced. That was a harsh way to put it. Direct though. "Kind of like with the Amazons?"

Haien tipped her head to one side. "Amazons?"

"Never mind," he said hastily. He wished he'd never mentioned the damn word. She was staring at him curiously and he turned his head to avoid her gaze. Seriously, he felt like he had stepped back into an old Chinese comic.

He froze. Wait. Where was his sister?

Frantically he wracked his mind, trying to recall the events that had transpired. Then he remembered that damned book. Something about a girl receiving fantastic power and the story itself being an incantation. The pounding in his head stopped. Did that mean his sister?

"Where are you from?" Haien asked inquisitively. "Can you get back there on your own? I mean, unless you really do want to become a sex slave or something."

"Tokyo," Nazo muttered distractedly. His hand slid from his neck. What was going on? The sense of foreboding returned, stronger than ever.

"Tokyo? You sure?"

Nazo looked up. "I've lived there for twenty years; I'm pretty sure that's where I'm from."

"No need to take offense," Haien muttered. "I've just never heard of that place."

"Where's the girl who was with me?" Nazo asked.

Haien frowned. "There.. was no girl with you. I didn't see one."

"What?"

She bit her lip. "All I saw was the women about to maim you, so I threw a bomb, grabbed you, and teleported you here. There really was no one else."

Nazo stared at her, unable to take in what she had just said. The image of the book in his hand and how he had felt back then flashed into his mind. The frightening sensation began to drown out all other thoughts. "You're kidding! You mean my sister is still in that hellish place? They're going to kill her!"

"She should be safe," Haien cut in. "Your sister's a girl, so all they'll do is make her run the gauntlet."

"Gauntlet?!"

She flinched from the strength of his words and for a moment, he felt terrible. He slapped his forehead. "I'm sorry," he said, his tone softer. "I'm just. I don't know."

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I'll go back and fetch her. What does she look like?"

"I'm coming with you," Nazo said grimly. "I don't trust her with anyone but me."

She paused. "Are you sure? It's not safe for you if you get caught."

"I'm sure," he said firmly.

"I see," was all she said, which he took as affirmation that she'd let him come along with her.

"How are you going to find her?" Nazo wanted to know.

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I'll go back and fetch her. Hopefully they'll still be there."

A flash of just what might be going on if they were indeed still there chilled him. "I'm coming with you," he said.

She paused. "Are you sure? It's not safe for you if you get caught."

"I'm sure," he said firmly.

"I see," was all she said, which he took as affirmation that she'd let him come along with her. She started to move away and he followed right after her.

"How are we going to get her in time?" Nazo wanted to know. "And even get her away?"

She smiled devilishly. "Teleport. That's how I got you out of there. Visualize a place, and I can teleport myself and anyone else I touch with me. Not everyone likes it, since it can make your stomach lurch, but hey. It can be pretty handy. Still want to come?"

She was like a sci-fi character. Her odd-looking hair, her Chinese-esque clothes, even this so-called teleportation power of hers. He had never heard of anyone with special powers. All right, there had been that blind guy who had taught himself how to echolocate, but teleportation? How did he know his arms weren't going to get separated from his body? Where did his body parts go when he was teleported? Did they fly out and rearrange themselves in the new location? What if something didn't rearrange itself correctly, like his- he flushed. Maybe best not to think about _that._ Still, she had rescued him, and that had to mean something. He nodded.

"Let's go then," Haien said and took Nazo's hand. He refrained from flinching, although he was acutely aware that this was the first time he was holding a girl's hand. Embarrassed, he turned away just in time to see her lips move silently, and then he was jerked through an abyss of light.

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_Next Episode:_ Explanation: It's definitely time for Nari and Nazo to understand just what kind of a mess they have gotten themselves into..

* * *

_A/N: So. Despite the.. concept of the story, I am not making this into a crack fic. I am legitimately trying to make this into a serious fanfic. And no, the story won't take place solely in Nyosei._

_Hope you enjoyed this chapter~ and a review is always much appreciated, even if it is short. x3_


	3. EP 03: Explanation

****_A/N: Hey there. Posting a trigger warning. For those more sensitive, the first section of this chapter is pretty much sexual assault, although it doesn't get too far. Please feel free to skip it._

**Episode Three: Explanation**

After the smoke cleared, Nari found herself surrounded by the group of angry women who had been chasing the two of them. Immediately her mind flew to Nazo. Where was her brother and was he safe? Had he abandoned her to these barbarous women? No, that was nothing like him. Had he managed to escape then? It had been him the women had been after. If they had him, how could she protect him? She was weak, so weak that it frustrated her to no end that he always had to be the one protecting her.

"Well, well, looks like that one attacked us again," the woman who seemed to be the leader said. She snorted. "Seems she forgot someone though. Shame the man escaped, but perhaps we can... have fun with the remaining one. Who knows, maybe she's secretly also a man and we interrupted them while they were trying to disguise themselves."

That got a laugh from the women. Nari cowered where she sat against a tree. She covered her head with her arms. So her brother had escaped. Good. As for herself, she really was a woman, so she was-

"Even so, if she's a woman, she's been found in the company of a man. By the laws of our land, we must still punish her."

"Question her. She may yet reveal his whereabouts."

Nari froze. What? Before she could react, she was seized by two of the women, dragged away from the tree, and thrown to the ground. She stifled a cry as someone's fingers curled around her hair and yanked her head back. The ugly stank of unwashed skin and dried sweat reached her nose.

"So. Where is the man who was previously with you?" a soft voice whispered next to her ear. "Tell me and perhaps I may spare your pitiful life."

"I don't know anything!" Nari responded.

A cloth was roughly wrapped around her mouth and face, and she tasted its acerbic tang. It was abruptly tightened and Nari almost choked. Fear stabbed through her chest and her heart raced. "Answer me!" the voice demanded.

Nari refused to say anything, only glare at the woman defiantly. The woman's brown eyes studied her malevolently.

"Strip her," she ordered and backed away.

Nari's blood ran cold. The women started to move towards her and she fought against the women restraining her arms. She tried to scream, but the cloth muffled her cries. Her scalp burned as the hold on her hair tightened. She felt hands tear at her clothes, but they were having difficulty with the buttons. In the midst of the struggle, another cloth was shoved unceremoniously over her eyes.

"Perhaps this is unnecessary," a new voice put in. "She is merely a girl. The strange man could have been a coincidence. Why not give her a chance to explain herself? Besides, she cannot speak if you block her voice or terrify her."

Nari slowly felt the hold on her hair loosen. "Perhaps.." her captor said. "All right, you win, Your Highness."

"Now all of you leave us," the girl said. "I wish to speak to her alone. Return when I call only."

The blindfold was unwrapped from Nari's eyes and she was forced to her knees before the newcomer. She squeezed her eyes shut as she gathered her bearings again. Footsteps approached her and she shrank back, expecting a slap across the face, but a kind hand reached forward. "Do not be afraid," the girl said. "I am here to protect you."

Nari took the hand offered. "Th-thank you."

The hand was surprisingly strong and Nari was pulled to her feet. As the girl brushed off her clothing for her, Nari examined her. Her previous captor had called her "Your Highness," signifying royalty, but she didn't see anything royal about her except the elaborate headpiece on the girl's light blue hair. A fire gem rested between the dim red moonstones, and her long hair was swept back into a ponytail. She was dressed in a simple dark blue robe, and her equally dark eyes were contemplative. She looked to be about Nari's age and wore a blue silk shirt and bronze plated armor covering her chest and forming a short skirt around her waist and legs. The girl noticed Nari's scrutiny and smiled. "My name is Aremi, but you may call me Shoshi. My mother is the ruler of this land."

"What land is this?" Nari wondered. "I have never seen clothing like this except for in stories."

"This is Nyosei, land of women and ruled by them. We are a small island compared to our brothers, but we hold our own. Any man caught trespassing on our land is immediately captured and given three choices: one, to have his eyes gouged out and become a sex toy to the women to help them reproduce until he has been worn out; two, become a mere slave and be forced to do manual labor and all the heavy work; or three, execution." Her smile turned grim. "It is not a lucky life for those who land here."

"But my bro-" Nari started to say.

Shoshi placed a finger on her lips. "Say nothing. For now, he is merely a stranger whom you happened to meet. It is for both your protection."

"Why do I need protection?" Nari questioned. Then she realized her place and quickly added, "Your Highness."

"No need to call me that," Shoshi said with a kind smile. "That is for my countrywomen only."

Nari nodded slowly. "A-All right.."

"Call me Shoshi," the princess prompted.

Hesitation and a small touch of fear showed on Nari's face, but when she saw that Shoshi meant it, she relaxed. "Shoshi," she said with a notable tone of relief in her voice.

Shoshi's smile widened and her eyes crinkled. "You have landed on this island in foreign clothes obviously not of the four surrounding countries," she continued, returning to the topic at hand. "You also appeared with a man, something taboo here. Most likely you will have to run the gauntlet."

"The gauntlet?" Nari gasped out. "But-!" Her thoughts flew. She was the studious type, not the athletic type! The most running she did was to the library when her books were about to be overdue and even then she had to jog. How was she going to survive such a strenuous challenge?

"Are you from another world?" Shoshi suddenly asked, breaking Nari free of her thoughts. "How did you get here? I have never seen your style of clothing before."

"I'm.. I'm from Japan, and since I assume this is China.." Nari shook her head. "I don't know. I could be. I don't know how I got here at least."

"What were you doing before you got here?"

Nari was confused. "I was reading a book, and-" there was a brief hesitation. She knew what she had to do, but she didn't know if she could pull it off. "The s-stranger came over with a cup of cappuccino and sat down next to me."

Shoshi's face turned contemplative at the mention of the book. "A book?" she asked.

Realization dawned on Nari. "You mean I came through that book to get here?"

"According to the other legends of the bordering countries' Priestesses, yes, that would be how you got here," Shoshi said. "In times of great peril, a girl from another world will appear and summon Tenkyoku, Nyosei's protector, and bring peace back to our land." She frowned. "But it is strange. We are in no trouble right now. No one is invading us, and our economy holds strong."

"P-perhaps it could be the other countries?" Nari asked hesitantly.

"That I have my doubts," Shoshi answered. "They all have their own gods; why would they need us?" She shifted her stance and tugged on her ponytail. "Besides, their Priestesses have already wished them eternal peace and protection, except for Kutou.. Could it be..?"

Nari frowned. "Could it be what?"

Suddenly Shoshi tensed and took Nari's hand. "Someone's coming."

Nari quickly glanced at Shoshi. "Is it my brother?"

Shoshi nodded. "Yes, but he's with someone else. I think.." she frowned. "He is with a girl, and I sense power from her. I think she may be another seishi."

"Seishi? What's a seishi?" Nari asked in confusion. "Are they part of the legend, too?"

A small smile crept over Shoshi's face. "Perhaps I should explain everything to you in a more comfortable atmosphere. Shall we head back to the palace?" she asked, offering Nari a hand.

"But what about-"

The look in Shoshi's eyes stopped her, and slowly Nari forced a smile and took Shoshi's hand. "Of course," she said. "And will I see that stranger again at the palace?"

Shoshi's smile faded. "That remains to be seen. We need to go now." Then she thrust her fist into the air. "Women of Nyosei, let us head back home!"

There was the sound of loud galloping, and the clearing was suddenly filled with fierce, armored women. "Let us go!" one of them shouted, waving her glittering sword above her head. "Let us return to the Empress!"

Shoshi leaped onto her own horse, which had been led to her by another one of the Nyosein women. She helped Nari get on behind her, then turned her attention back to her army. "To home!" she shouted, pointing her sword toward the direction of the palace.

"To home!" the rest of the crowd shouted.

Nari was unable to hold back anymore. "Wait!" she cried out. "Why aren't we waiting for him?"

"There is no time," Shoshi answered shortly. "We must get you to safety first. If they can find us this time, they can find us again." She whirled her horse around, and Nari had to cling onto the princess to stay on. _Please let me find my brother_, she thought silently, sending a prayer up into the sky. _Please let him be safe.._

**x**

The squirrel watched as the girl left with the women. It sniffed its nose. Was she the one? Was she its Priestess? She wore strange clothes, just like it had been foretold in the legends, and but there was something different about her. It did not quite match the squirrel's own wavelength, but perhaps it was because she was after all from another world? Much as it wanted to approach her at the moment, it was afraid the other girl protecting its Priestess might not let him near. After all, many people believed squirrels carried illnesses, part of the reason why it was actually a squirrel at the moment; it could be left alone to live however it wanted.

The squirrel munched on a nut it had grabbed earlier as it contemplated its next step. It made the decision then to follow his Priestess and show up at an opportune time. Besides, humans could be scary, and he didn't want to have to try to talk to more than one at a time.

**x**

A few minutes later, Haien and Nazo appeared on the empty beach. Nazo immediately broke free from her and began searching for Nari. She couldn't be far! They had only been separated for a few minutes – where she could have run off to, or worse, he feared, been taken captive to?

"Nari, where-" Nazo saw the frown on Haien's face. "What's wrong?" he demanded.

"They're not here anymore," Haien said slowly. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be concentrating on something. "They were here just a few minutes ago, but they left before we could catch them."

Nazo whirled around. "What?!"

"It's true," Haien insisted. "I can still feel her chi here. She was here just a few minutes ago with some of the Nyosein women." She furrowed her brow. "We may have a complication. There's a possibility they sensed me coming."

Nazo groaned. "Do you know where they went at least?"

Haien turned to look at Nazo and nodded. "Of course I do. They went back to the palace. That's where the gauntlet is usually held."

"She's going to run the gauntlet?!" Nazo's voice rose into a squeak. "But she can't! That'll-"

Haien placed a finger on Nazo's lips and looked into his eyes intently. "Hush. You don't know if this will turn out to be a good thing or not."

Nazo shoved Haien's hand away angrily. "It won't be a good thing! Take me to her now!" He clutched his jacket around him tightly. "Please.. I don't know what I would do if something happens to her."

She seemed to be mulling over something. He had a feeling it was whether or not she should keep risking herself for him. Surely the work she did made her an enemy of these crazy women. Fine. He didn't care if he went by himself. This girl he had just met didn't need to risk her life for Nari and him. Before he could announce that though, she seized Nazo's arm. "C'mon, let's go then!" she said. "And make sure you follow whatever story I come up with!"

Nazo barely had time to exclaim before they vanished again.

**x**

Glittering blue eyes watched through a crystal ball as the purple light faded. A brilliant red tongue slipped out and licked pale lips. "Interesting," a low voice said. "It looks as if the legend is about to unfold."

"I never doubted it would," another voice, higher in pitch, responded. "It was bound to happen. Shame it has to happen now, but it'll be much more fun this way."

"We'll have to be something about the extra one," the first voice mused. "That will be interesting."

"This group will be fun to toy with," a third voice joined in. "Who wants to deal with them first?"

"I will," the first voice said, and the tongue slipped out again. "You know I love this kind of thing."

"And this time, our plans will unravel exactly the way we planned," the second voice answered. There was a laugh, and the eyes disappeared. All that remained behind was a wisp of smoke.

* * *

_Next Episode: A Dumb Charade_ - Nazo is desperate to find his sister, but how far will he have to go to do so? And who were the voices?

* * *

A/N: I know the beginning sort of seems like the original Fushigi Yuugi, but the story will be different, I promise. That said, thank you for reading! Also, if you skipped the first part, the Nyosein women tried to strip Nari so they could find out if she was a woman or not, but Shoshi (the Nyosein crown princess) stopped them.


	4. EP 04: A Dumb Charade

_A/N: ..As the first published year states, it's been a while since I've updated anything. I've been working on this story on and off, then stopped for a variety of reasons. Really do want to get back into it however and always have, so I'm going to try to, but as it is right now, I have a few more weeks of school, which are really important, so updates may be slow. For those of you who read the story before, the reason why this chapter is re-uploaded is because I did a revamp of the previous chapters and adjusted the plot. Deleted the two chapters that were originally after this one because they were changed, and I haven't had time to finish writing them yet. Anyway, hopefully it won't take me another... three years to update this story again. I really do enjoy it, just bah. Dx Going to try to make time to slowly finish it, and hopefully it will be worth the wait. _

_On a random note, trusting that my writing has improved in that time period so the story should flow better and the characters be more consistent? xD_

**Episode Four: A Dumb Charade**

Haien had a secret. Only her family, the villagers in her hometown, and a few select others knew what it was and she preferred it stayed that way, especially since that was more people than she was comfortable with knowing her secret. Usually when she rescued men from the Nyosein women, she relied on smoke and flash bombs to disguise her teleportation ability. If they were injured, she would do her best to nurse them back to health in a cave concealed by foliage and other useful camouflage. Then when they were ready, she would bring them to a boat tucked into a corner and send them off in the direction of their homeland. No one ever found out her true identity and she wanted to keep it that way. Now however she had revealed that she had powers to a complete stranger and she wasn't even sure why. Also, there was the matter that what she was about to attempt was extremely risky, especially since she had never revealed herself to the Nyosein women. They were sure to have questions for her, none of which she hoped would lead to her self-appointed career of stealing men from their grasp.

Those were her thoughts as they arrived at the forest in front of the palace and slowly made their way forward in time to watch as a line of horsewomen entered through the gates. Haien sucked in her breath as she realized what this meant. It would not be easy to infiltrate, and the young man she had picked up was such a wild card at the moment that she wasn't sure if he'd listen to sense as soon as she explained. Her eyes closed as she contemplated. Could she somehow find a wig and womens' clothing? Nazo was tall though, and he would surely be checked before they were allowed inside. There had to be another way.

Suddenly her impatient charge jerked up. "Nari!" he shouted, and he started to rise from his crouched position.

Haien seized him by the jacket before he could get any farther and forced him to face her. "Are you insane?! Are you _trying_ to force me to rescue you again from that crowd of women?"

"I don't care," Nazo responded fiercely. "That's my sister over there!"

"You get captured again, she probably won't be able to escape unscathed!" Haien shook Nazo. "Or are you too blind to realize that? She's probably only safe right now because she's under the Princess's protection! If you storm out there right now, even the Princess won't be able to protect her!"

"Who is the Princess?" Nazo demanded. "I want to talk to her!"

Haien's eyes widened in anger and her cheeks turned red. "Numbskull! Is nothing I'm saying getting through your thick, thick head?!"

He glared at her and she glared right back. However, he didn't object again, which she decided was an improvement. He let out a gusty sigh, closed his eyes, and tilted his head skyward. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're already doing a lot for me. It's just that- I don't know what to do. She's all I have left."

Haien relented a bit. "You're still a numbskull. And you still have a thick head."

He grinned at her. "I'll take that criticism."

"You better," she said, folding her arms.

There was a moment's silence as they each evaluated the uneasy truce they had come to. "These women have a rather low opinion of men, don't they?" Nazo finally asked.

"Oh, definitely."

"Even lower than your opinion of me?" Nazo asked with just the faintest hint of a smile.

She was amused that he dare challenge her that way. "I don't think that's possible," she replied.

"Hey!" Nazo sputtered.

"You know you asked for that."

He fumed quietly, and Haien laughed. "I was kidding. Why did you ask?"

"Can we trick them into believing that you've somehow seduced me? Get them to trap me somehow and bring me into the palace?"

Strange, why was he blushing? "Are you stupid? They might try to maim you like they tried earlier."

"I think we already established that I'm a numbskull," Nazo said not-so-helpfully. "But what if you can somehow convince them not to do anything to me?"

"What, like claim you're a gift for the Empress or something?"

He nodded.

She wanted to punch some sense into him for coming up with such a risky idea. At the same time, it could work if... She gritted her teeth, then looked at him. "You are going to do exactly what I say, and hopefully. Hopefully. We won't get skinned alive."

**x**

Nari rode behind Shoshi silently. She could still scarcely believe the kind of world she had landed herself into. It was a relief that she had found someone like Shoshi so quickly, who was willing to protect her, but she still wished for her brother. There was something about him that just made her feel safe whenever she was around him, even if she could sense that he himself was scared. At least when he was scared too, it was a relief to know that she wasn't the only one frightened. There was comfort in numbers.

Nari looked around nervously. Shoshi had now ridden past the gates and entered the palace courtyard. It was beyond anything she had ever seen or experienced before. Again she questioned whether or not she was dreaming. There was no real place like this, right? There couldn't be a huge stone castle like this that had never been discovered before. It had the look of one of those old English castles she was sure she'd seen in documentaries before. And the clothing of the women? It was similar to traditional Japanese clothing, but somehow she knew it was definitely Chinese. She knew of no one or any nation even now that wore clothing like that, so where was she? On some undiscovered island? If so, how had she gotten here? Was she really in another world like Shoshi had said?

A small marketplace was inside the gates, and Nari marveled at all the goods that had been set up. Many of the stalls hosted fish and fruit. It was bustling, almost a small metropolis in its own right, if this backward place could have something like that. Her stomach growled as the delicious scent of noodles drifted past her nose. She was hungry and hadn't eaten anything since lunch, which seemed like hours ago. Even though all of what was happening was almost impossible to comprehend, she still found it funny that she still had at least some sort of appreciation for good food.

A woman dressed in black armor rode up to Shoshi. A feather stood up straight from her tightly wound ebony hair, and her eyes were a murky brown. Nari instinctively shrank back when she realized that it was the same woman from before that had led the attack on her brother and herself. The woman noticed this and her gaze rested on Nari for a few seconds, then to the girl's relief, focused on Shoshi.

"Your Highness," the woman said. "Ran reports that she has seen a strange presence in the forest behind us."

Shoshi nodded. "All right, take some of the women and go investigate. If there is anyone though, bring them back alive." Her eyes narrowed. "And unharmed. I want to know what exactly is going on."

The woman bowed. "As you wish." She turned her horse around and galloped off, bringing with her five or six other women to join the three already heading toward the forest.

Nari bit her lip as she watched them depart. "What if it's my brother?"

Shoshi smiled reassuringly. "If it is, you'll be reunited with him, right?"

Nari's eyes brightened. "You're right! But.." her eyes turned worried. "They won't hurt him, will they?"

Shoshi shook her head. "Not without my permission."

"All.. right," Nari finally said. Shoshi, seeing her discomfort, reached over and touched her shoulder.

"Let's go inside," she said. "You should change your clothes."

**x**

As the women approached Haien and Nazo, Haien straightened her shoulders. She still didn't know why she was risking so much for this young man, far more than she usually did for those under her charge, especially since he could be so infuriating. She had never gone so far as to try to infiltrate Nyosei like she was trying to do so now. Because she was not a native of the island like some of the women there and because she did not actively spend time in their society, she did not know or understand all their customs. She studied them, but it didn't mean she took them to heart. She preferred to have as little contact as possible with the women when she rescued the men. Nazo was different however. Was it because he was so touchingly worried about his sister? He reminded her of her own brother. It was obvious the two were close. She also wondered about his random appearance. She hadn't seen any boats on the horizon today and she'd never seen his style of clothing before.

Then it hit her.

Was he a Summoner? But that was impossible; the Summoners were always female. Did that mean his sister was the Priestess then? Could it be that the legend of Tenkyoku was finally unfolding after all these years? Was the prophecy unfolding? If that was true, why were they both here and what was Nazo's role in all of this? She could never remember a time when the Summoner had been male. The only time there had been two Summoners before had been with the Priestesses of Suzaku and Seiryuu; two best friends had entered this world at the same time and ended up in a bitter conflict.

It was a disturbing thought. Surely the two siblings were not meant to fight each other? Were the four countries outside of Nyosei at war? No, that could not be it. There had been no inkling of this; she would have heard about this from the marooned men. Did that mean Nyosei was soon to be invaded by a horde of seishi searching for their Priestess? How many of them would actually dare to, considering most seishi in past legends were men? Was it possible that Nazo was actually the Summoner instead of his sister? Most importantly, why, why, why had he been dragged into this world, especially being the sex he was?

The sound of marching reached her and she shoved Nazo behind the pile of rocks. He managed to catch himself and "Be quiet!" she hissed to him. "Remember what we talked about!"

Seconds later, the armored women of Nyosei's guard came out from the bushes. "Who are you?" one of them demanded. "We're under the orders of Princess Aremi to bring you back!"

Haien gently took Nazo by the wrist and walked forward. "I am He Haien, a newcomer from the south," she announced. "I bring a special guest and gift with me."

The women positioned themselves in a circle around the pair, their spears pointing inward. Haien recognized several of them, having had run-ins with them before because of previous escapades she had planned out. Luckily, none of them would be able to identify her, as she had always used her smoke bombs before interfering with their work. The one who seemed to be leader pulled her sword out and lifted Haien's chin with the tip. "A gift?" she asked sneeringly.

Haien leveled her gaze at the circle. "I have something the Princess may want," she said.

The woman nodded impassively and but kept her spear pointed at her. "What is it?"

Haien bowed. She backed away until she was level with the rock pile and gently took Nazo by the wrist and pulled him in front of her. As soon as he saw them, panic flashed across his face and he tried to bolt, but one of the women swiftly punched him in the gut and he doubled over, knees on the ground. Before he could move, she touched the tip of his spear against the back of his neck.

The leader smirked at Haien. "This is the same man we ran into earlier. He somehow managed to escape. Is he the gift to the Empress or one of the princesses?"

Haien smiled. "Of course. I found him in the forest and tricked him into coming here." A shaking trill she wasn't even aware she could do escaped in the form of a laugh. "He seems to be deaf though, so he can't hear a thing I am saying. I haven't even figured out his name yet! In fact," and now Haien snickered. "I think he came here because he thought I would do things with him. That's how I certainly made it out to be at least!"

The leader laughed, throwing her head back. "Now isn't that like men?" She extended a hand out to Haien. "I am Mai, captain of the guard. You should have introduced yourself to me sooner. I like your way of thinking. Come with me, and I shall take you into the palace."

Haien smiled and took Mai's hand. "Thank you," she said. She knelt and kissed Mai's hand. The two drew away from each other as Haien stood up. "I have been hoping for a chance to prove my worth to the empress."

The other women looked at Nazo suspiciously as they crowded around him. One of them seized him by the hair and tilted his head back. "Well, he's not bad," she said gruffly. "But _I_ certainly wouldn't want him."

Haien mentally rolled her eyes at the insult. To his credit, Nazo was keeping any reaction to this treatment tucked inside. She could admire that. He had more grit than she would have given him credit for. She winced as one of the warriors whopped him across the face and blood trickled down his nose. Having studied the women, she knew that they treated their prisoners roughly, but she hadn't expected this. Hopefully Nazo would be able to find it in himself to forgive her for getting him into this later.

As she watched, he was yanked by the hair again and dragged off. Nazo made no attempt to resist, not with the spear tip against his throat. One of the women wrapped ropes around his body, binding his arms close to him and effectively immobilizing him from his torso up. He struggled, more for effect than anything else, and she slapped him immediately across the face. "Behave," she mocked. The only good thing was that she didn't gag him. The blood had slid down to his chin now and was threatening to drip onto his clothes.

The woman kicked Nazo. "Walk," she said, shoving him toward the north. Nazo stumbled, then began walking. The rest of the women followed after him, and he found himself head of the strangest parade he had ever seen.

Haien fell into step next to him, her eyes straight ahead of her. Not once did she look over at him. If she had made a mistake, she could only pray that she rescued Nazo in time.

**x**

This was stupid, Nazo reflected. This was ridiculous, and he doubted it'd get him anywhere near Nari, but it was what Haien had told him to do and since she seemed relatively sane and not trying to chop off his manhood, he figured listening to her would be a better idea than to try to bulldoze his way to his sister. It was largely his fault, too, for coming up with the suggestion. She had just taken it and run wild with it. Then again, hindsight was always 20/20. His chin tickled from the blood and he wanted to scratch it, but his hands were bound to his side. He glanced down and saw that his jacket was splattered with blood. Great. He hoped his nose wasn't broken.

Unfortunately, their brilliant plan had given him another problem to worry about.

He had to act like a deaf man and frankly, he had no idea how they acted. Some of the women had seen him already, and they knew he had been able to hear them earlier. He could only hope that they would think the bomb had temporarily deafened him. He knew in Japan deaf people could communicate relatively well with hearing people and had even developed their own language, but here in Nyosei, things had to be different. Did they wave their arms around wildly and speak incoherently because they had never heard another human voice? Were they able to pronounce words correctly? Did they have their own language? The way the society was run so primitively, he wouldn't have been surprised if that scenario really had been the case.

As they marched along however, despite the ropes binding him, his throbbing nose, and the blood trickling down his chin, Nazo was still somehow able to appreciate the majestic forest he was going through. Being a child from the city, he was not often given the opportunity to admire this sort of scenery, and he found himself surprisingly glad that he was able to now. It was a pity his sister wasn't able to share it with him.

"How are you holding up?" he heard Haien whisper softly to him. "Don't answer. Just nod or shake your head."

She was the one who had gotten him into this situation. He tilted his head backwards and rolled his eyes toward her. Haien sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, but this is the safest way to get you to your sister."

He grumbled an assent, telling her he acknowledged that, but it didn't mean he was happy. Still, if this meant he was going to be reunited with Nari, he was willing to go through much worse. Nazo cast a glance at Haien. Truth be told, he was glad it had been her he had run into. She was a lot more patient than most people would have been. She had mentioned saving other men from the island before. Maybe that was why she was able to empathize with him. He hoped at least that he wasn't the craziest one that she had to rescue. Later when things had calmed down, he'd definitely have to apologize to her for his behavior. It was just with his mind so wrapped up around Nari's safety he tended to be less level-headed than usual. A sister complex? Yeah, he did sort of have one, but if that meant being fiercely protective of his sister, he'd be the first to admit it. He also had a lot of questions that he hoped to bombard Haien with later, too.

Nazo's body suddenly began to tingle, and the leader of the group shouted, "Stop!" Everyone halted in their tracks. Nazo, confused and uncertain of what was going on, looked to Haien for help, but she too was frowning.

"You two, go investigate in the bushes," the captain ordered, and the two nodded, drew their weapons, and approached the designated area.

Haien and Nazo looked at each other uncertainly. What was going on? Some sort of disturbance had just gone through the air, but it was gone now. Then the expression on Haien's face changed abruptly and she pushed Nazo to the floor with far more credit than he would have given her slight frame of a body. He fell to his knees, holding in a yelp of pain, and then his chin hit the dirt ground as she followed after him. Stars circled around his head and he knew his chin was scraped and going to be sore for many a day. His glasses were dislodged, too.

"Haien, what are you-"

The floor below them shook violently, knocking the women and horses off their feet. One of the horses broke free and galloped away. "Everyone! Stay down!" Mai shouted. The captain was lying down flat and holding her sword with one hand while her other arm was wrapped around a tree trunk. The other women had also simultaneously grabbed their own handholds so they were secured.

Just as suddenly as it began, the forest stopped shaking. Time seemed to freeze. No one dared to speak, only casting nervous glances at each other. Earthquakes weren't something that often happened at Nyosei, and when it did, the effects tended to be disastrous. They were an island nation after all, and something like this could cause the waves to sweep over the island if strong enough.

"What was-"

"Watch out for the aftershock!"

The ground rumbled again, and everyone covered their heads. Nazo squeezed his eyes, unable to believe his luck. Not only was he separated from his sister, but he was also bound in ropes unable to defend himself, and there was an earthquake going on around him?

A low-pitched laugh surrounded them, and Mai raised her head. "Who's there?" she demanded. "Show yourself!"

A man stepped out of the shadows and the women gasped collectively. Another one of them! Just where were they all coming from? They were like weeds sprouting on their beloved soil! This man's black hair was bound in a tight bun with bangs brushed to the side, and his plated armor was black. The cloak flowing behind him and his shirt were both a deep emerald green. His arms were protected from elbow down by black metal braces. One arm was stretched out, and he had a foxy grin on his face.

"Greetings," he said as he raised an elegant eyebrow. "I am the one they call Genbu."

* * *

_Next Episode: Reckoning with a Turtle_ - What business does a god have to do with the mundane affairs of mortals? Closer and closer, Nari and Nazo get to each other, but will they ever be reunited?


	5. EP 05: Reckoning with a Turtle

_A/N: Well. Hey. This is sort of a new record for me. I actually had most of this chapter written a long time ago, but I got stuck on the action scenes. More or less figured it out.. three years later? Eh. o.o Anyway, if any suggestions for how to improve them, please let me know. I also messed with the chapter titles a bit. This one actually seemed more fitting for Chapter Five instead of Four. _

**Episode Five: Reckoning with a Turtle**

Stunned silence, even stiller than the aftermath of the earthquake, swept through the clearing. Haien's first thought was that this was impossible. Genbu was one of the four legendary gods, the protector of Hokkan. How could he be here in Nyosei, let alone descend to the earth? What business would he have here? And if he really were who he said he was, she had to get Nazo out of there. Surely the only reason for his appearance would be to rid Nyosei of their Summoner.

"What are you doing here? Who are you?" Mai demanded.

"Me?" Genbu asked, then laughed. "Like I said, I'm called Genbu. As for what I'm doing here, easy enough. I'm on a mission to destroy you all. It shouldn't be hard after all; my supply of puppets will be endless on this island."

One of the women screamed a war cry and fired an arrow at Genbu. Before they could blink, he had caught it. A small snap echoed through the clearing and he threw the broken remains away. "Nice try," he said amusedly.

Mai got to her feet and stood her ground. A list of options scrolled through her head, but none were pleasant. After seeing what had happened, she knew to proceed cautiously. He was obviously not the typical man to land on their island.

Before she could do anything however, Genbu thrust his arms out, throwing five scrolls into the air, and shouted in a language Nazo couldn't understand. The scrolls froze in the air and the ground below them began to shake. Haien tackled Nazo and rolled with him into the bushes just as the corpse of a Hokkan soldier rose from the cracks that had just formed where they had been lying. Its skin was fuzzed over with green fur, and as it opened its rotting eyes, moaning loudly through its festering lips. Looking around, Nazo and Haien saw four other identical zombies that were now swaying where they had just risen. It would have been almost comical if they hadn't noticed the hands. The undead's black claws curved wickedly, and they began to hop towards the women, eerie lights in their otherwise blank eyes. Genbu laughed at the astonished faces on the women. "Do you like them? They're my special puppets, and they're more than enough to deal with you."

"Tenkyoku," Haien whispered. "His supply really will be near endless!"

"What?" Nazo said through gritted teeth.

"The puppets!"

Outside of the bushes, Mai was gathering the women together. "Draw your weapons!" she shouted.

A third of the women unsheathed the swords on their back while another third pointed their spears at the zombies. The last three put arrows on their bows and drew the strings back.

Mai thrust her blade into the air. "Fire!"

The arrows shot toward the zombies, striking their limbs and bodies. The impact caused them to jerk, but nothing more. They continued on their unsightly march towards the women, undeterred. Genbu laughed from behind. "They don't die that easily, fools."

Mai narrowed her eyes. She swept her sword into the air in an upward motion, and the archers' bows followed her lead. "Fire!" she shouted again.

This time, the arrows flew high above the zombies. Genbu swept his arm over his head, and a wall of earth covered him, stopping the arrows. The shield slowly returned to the ground, and he smirked. "Again. That's a-?"

Another arrow shot out, this time released by Mai, and Genbu twisted to the side, barely avoiding it. Haien, seeing that Genbu was distracted, seized her knife and cut through Nazo's bonds. She grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him up. "We're leaving."

"Wait, what about-" Nazo started to protest.

"It's not them he's after, it's _us!"_ Haien answered, and she teleported again.

**x**

Shoshi raised her head and looked toward the forest outside the palace. She had just sensed a huge surge of power, followed by an attempt to breach the wards set up by the High Priestess. It had failed, but this was still something worth investigating. A strange string of events was unraveling, and she did not like being in the dark about it. Things like this did not happen often because Nyosei was an island separated by an ocean from its brothers, and her habit of killing off any survivors from boat wrecks was an effective way of shutting off any information about the other nations. Likewise, the armies of the four countries did not bother them because of the frightening rumors that surfaced. Thus, Nyosein culture had flourished, virtually uninfluenced and totally capable of protecting itself. No one had ever had the opportunity to truly scale the island and escape alive.

"Shoshi? What is it?" Nari asked her, interrupting her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that there were two outsiders, two possible Summoners.

Shoshi narrowed her eyes and touched the fire gem on her forehead. "I will be back," she answered. "You think you have everything?"

Nari smiled. "Yeah. Thank you so much for helping me like this."

Shoshi couldn't help but laugh. "It is the least I could do for you. You are destined to become our Priestess after all."

The conflict on the girl's face was apparent. "I.."

Shoshi knelt down and put a hand on Nari's shoulder. "I will be back with your brother. Meanwhile, please allow one of the maids to lead you to the hot springs so you can relax." When Nari shakily met her eyes, Shoshi squeezed her shoulder and stood up. "Do not worry so much. It will be all right." She bowed before leaving and closed the door behind her. Her expression instantly hardened. This time, she would personally take care of whoever dared invade their island.

**x**

"Ow!"

Nazo opened an eye and saw that they were in the exact same spot, still concealed by the foliage. One of the zombies had been taken down, but the others still harassed the women. As he watched, a zombie plunged its claws into a warrior, and she gasped, her life sucked out of her. Her limp body collapsed to the ground with a quiet thud. That was when it hit him. Jiangshi! The undead puppets were jiangshi! That made this Genbu dude a Taoist, someone capable of summoning the disturbed dead and reanimating them to obey him. Quickly, he looked around for Haien. She was on the ground next to him, face almost as pale as her hair. He shook her gently, afraid of hurting her. Her eyes fluttered, and her hand went to her forehead as she groaned. "I don't get it. Something blocked me from getting to the castle. I think some sort of ward was set up to prevent this kind of entering from happening." She swayed as she climbed to her feet and Nazo grabbed her arm to steady her.

"Haien, those are jiangshi," he said urgently. "Those women aren't going to be able to get out of there alive. We have to do something."

Haien held up a hand. "Wait. I need to regain my senses." She took a couple of deep breaths, then closed her eyes. The ward she had crashed into was most likely a defensive one. Possibly set up by another seishi? Hopefully. The other possibility was much bleaker. "All right. I'm good. What?"

"Jiangshi! I've read about them before in mythology! How do you not know what they are?"

"Can we discuss this somewhere else? We need to get you to safety."

"But-"

Her glare silenced him.

"I'll throw a smoke bomb so it'll be difficult to track us," Haien said. She climbed to her feet and then helped Nazo up. Two small clicks, then Haien pulled out two bombs from the necklace around her neck and threw them against the floor, effectively hiding the women and themselves. "That should help the women here, too, since you're concerned about them," she said as she pulled Nazo with her. How he was she didn't know, especially since they would have given him the usual treatment, but he wasn't a native from this world. Maybe that was why he was watching out for them. Or was it simply because they were women? Did watching out for his sister simply make him more chivalrous than most other men would have been?

"Maybe you could teleport onto him and dr-"

"Did you really think you'd be able to escape?" someone asked from behind them.

Nazo and Haien whirled around and immediately stepped back. It was the green and black warrior from before. Now that they actually had a closer look at him, they could see the black symbol through his bangs painted on his forehead: the outline of a raindrop sitting on top of a circle with a dot inside the drop. Haien drew in a sharp breath as she realized its meaning and moved protectively in front of Nazo.

"So this is the Priest of Tenkyoku and one of his pitiful seishi," he said with a smirk. "This is going to be a lot easier than we thought."

"Stay back, let me handle this," Haien warned.

"That's right, let the little girly handle it," Genbu mocked, folding his arms over his brigandine. "You're a man, can't you defend yourself?"

Priest? _Priest_? What was this, some kind of- no. He wasn't going to make that crack. He didn't want to leave Haien by herself, but he realized this might just be exactly what Genbu wanted. He glanced at her, nodded, and stepped back.

"Run toward the palace," she said. "I'll catch up."

Goddamn, this really wasn't a dream. The pain on his chin and his nose confirmed it for him. He looked back at Haien one more time, but she glared at him, and biting his lip, he turned and ran.

"Looks like your Priest is quite the coward."

"Quiet!" Haien said fiercely. "I'm your opponent." With that, she vanished and reappeared next to Genbu. Spikes rose where she landed and she quickly teleported away before they fully manifested. She repeated the move until there were multiple afterimages surrounding him and then attacked him. Her fist struck Genbu, but he blocked it with his arm. She jumped away, teleported again, flashed back into existence for a second, and flung three daggers hidden in her sleeve at him. A rock shield shot up and blocked their flight.

"The Tenkyoku seishi really aren't much," Genbu commented, and the weapons he had summoned sank back into the dirt. "At this rate, you won't be able to stop us."

Haien put her hands up in front of her face protectively. "Us?" she asked. It seemed he was not only a Taoist but combined with what she had seen so far, a skilled manipulator of earth, on par with seishi from the past. That would explain the earthquakes from earlier. This was not good. She had told Nazo before that she wouldn't be able to protect him through strength but rather wit. She had hoped he would never have an opportunity to see why, but it was happening now, and against an extremely powerful opponent. If Nazo really was the Priest as Genbu stated, it was worth more than her life to get him to safety. At least she could no longer see him now, although she would always sense him. To Genbu, she demanded, "Why do you carry the name of the God of Hokkan? You're not a seishi, are you?"

Genbu raised an eyebrow. "Am I not from Hokkan? Am I not a powerful warrior? Why can't I? It's not like it's the name of the gods that are sacred but rather the figures themselves."

"How dare you desecrate His name?"

Genbu merely laughed. "Why does it matter to you? You're not a Genbu seishi at all."

The ground began to shake again, and Haien dropped to her knees. "Either way, I'm still a seishi!" she shouted. She teleported again and landed on Genbu's back. Genbu grabbed her by the arms and tried to throw her off, but she clung on. Something sharp sliced into the right side of her back, and she twisted away. _Tenkyoku, give me strength_, she prayed. Haien yanked a bomb off the chain around her neck, struck it against the chain, and thrust it into his shirt. Less than a second later, she landed next to Nazo and without warning, she grabbed him by the arm and teleported away.

**x**

A huge explosion rocked the forest. Shoshi pulled her horse to a stop and stared toward the smoke. What the hell was going on? She had expected some trouble, but for something like this? Taking a slip of paper, she folded a swallow with deft fingers and blew on it. The creation came to life, and she sent it toward the smoke, watching its flight with narrowed eyes. First a girl from another world had showed up, then she had claimed to have a brother with her. A brother of all things, when normally the Summoner was a woman. And when had there ever been two people from the outside world but when there was about to be strife? She would not stand for this. If they were to have a Summoner, there could only be one. If there were two, only problems would arise, which Nyosei could not afford to handle right now. However, she could not simply murder one of the siblings. Who knew what effects that would have? In addition, she did not think she was that cold-blooded to commit such an act, even though she knew her mother would probably ask her to if she were aware of the thoughts running through her mind.

Tenkyoku.

The swallow flew back to her and chirped in her ear. Shoshi's eyes narrowed even more and she whipped her horse into a run.

Haien and Nazo reappeared, this time in a dense area of the forest. Here, they were safe, at least for a little while. The bomb was merely a flash bomb, and although it wouldn't kill him, it would certainly delay him. No time to wonder what the heck was going on; they had to focus on running. Haien tried to stand, and she visibly grimaced, clutched her side, and closed her eyes.

"Haien?" Nazo asked.

She released her breath and opened her eyes to look at him. "I'm fine, I'm fine. The bomb only decapitated him for a bit. He'll be back after us in a few minutes. We've got to get you to somewhere safe before that."

"What are you talking about? You're injured!"

Haien gritted her teeth, although he couldn't tell if it was from pain or annoyance anymore. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. My brother's inflicted worse wounds on me. Anyway, it's not too deep. Besides, you're far more important."

Nazo frowned. "I'm more important? What are you-"

Her glare stopped him from continuing on that vein.

He sighed. "All right. If that's what you want. What are we going to do now then?"

She narrowed her eyes. "That presence I sensed earlier is even stronger now. I'm going to take us to whoever it is. Maybe they'll be able to help us figure out what on Tenkyoku is going on now."

"You're sure it'd be safe?"

"If it's not, I'll get you out before myself, don't worry."

That hadn't been what he'd been concerned about, but before he could say so, they had teleported again.

* * *

_Episode Six: Royal Butterfly_ - The two different parties meet for the first time! Can Haien and Nazo risk trusting this new woman, or will they continue the lie?

* * *

_A/N: I usually don't do author's notes at the end, but.. felt I had to do it for this. I'm sorry for cutting off the chapter with a teleport again. . I'll try not to do it again after this chapter (unless absolutely necessary). Also sorry about the jumping around all over this chapter, but it'll ease up in the next one because the two different storylines will converge. Anyway. Thank you for reading!_


	6. EP 06: Royal Butterfly

_A/N: Woot. This chapter didn't take me too long. Only about.. a week? Kind of. I stopped for a while since got busy, but once I got back to work, didn't take too long. There is still hope for me~ Anyway, hope you enjoy it =o _

**Episode Six: Royal Butterfly**

It was past 10PM when Kari returned to her house. The rain had long stopped, and she was ready for a hot bath before bed. She greeted her parents, who were in the living room watching the nightly game shows, and then went upstairs to her bedroom. Her brother was probably in his room playing computer games. She'd say hi to him later after she rested up a bit. Once in her room, she untied her hair and collapsed into the chair by her desk, eager to rest her tired feet. However, a nagging feeling at the back of her head prevented her from doing so, and she got up and pulled out the decrepit book from her book bag, the same one that she had found on Nazo's table. Even now, she wasn't sure why she had brought it back with her, especially without telling her boss that she was checking it out, but there had been some kind of pull, something she couldn't quite understand. Oddly enough, it was the first time she had even seen the book, and she wondered where it had come from, especially since it appeared to be so old, much older than the ones in their little library. Knowing Nazo, maybe it was one of the mythology books that her boss had borrowed? Why then was there no price tag or indication of that then?

Kari looked at the cover and studied the author's name. Perhaps she could ask one of her parents about Okuda Einosuke. Surely one of them had heard of this book before. Kari ran a finger along the spine of the book. It was cracking apart and its covers were worn. Why was she so fixated on it? It was just a book, for heavens sake. Was it because it was the last thing she knew Nazo had touched? Yeesh. Why didn't she just bring back the frickin' table then?

Oh. Right. Because the book and scarf were easier to transport.

With a frustrated groan, Kari threw herself on the bed. Shimajima. It had been ages since she had last seen him. Their group had really split after high school graduation. What had been that one popular American song, the one by some girl named Vitamin D? Vitamin A? Strange how they hadn't wanted to believe it back then, saying that nothing could separate them, but time had proved them wrong. The almost cold manner he had treated her with had been nothing like his old self, where although reserved, she could still see a smile in his eyes. It was almost like he hated her now and was merely acting cordial because it was what was expected. What had she done to offend him? It wasn't her fault that he had cut himself off from everyone else. They had tried to contact him countless times, but he never answered. She knew that he was receiving the calls, too, because she had tried using a payphone once, and he had picked up. At the sound of her voice however, he had immediately said, "Don't call me again," and hung up.

Why. Why had he done that, then today, left the extra change for her? Forever an enigma, even after high school ended. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Once again, her gaze returned to the book. _Open it!_ her mind screamed to her. _Open it!_ Kari bit her lip, still unwilling to do so. It was only a book. Why was she feeling like this?

Kari gently picked up the book from where it had fallen on the bed and studied it. Universe of the Four Gods. It sounded like something she had to look up on the Internet first. Perhaps she could trace the origin of the book that way. However, it seemed as if the cover fluttered, and she blinked, clearing her eyes. Was she more tired than she thought? Any thought of looking up the book vanished from her mind, and she went straight to the title page.

"This is the story of the one who gathered the Seven Seishi of Tenkyoku, and acquired the power to make every wish come true," Kari read softly to herself. "The story itself is an incantation. Whoever finishes the book shall receive this great power. As soon as the page is turned, the story will become the truth and begin."

Her heart pounded. Incantation? She quickly reread the inscription, not wanting to misunderstand. It had to be a lie. It couldn't be true, yet..

"Once the legend has begun, it cannot be undone. It can only continue until the story has ended."

Kari hesitated at the warning, then flipped the book open, and her eyes widened at what unfolded within the pages.

**x**

As she burst into the clearing, Shoshi came upon Mai's unit groaning on the ground. At least three of the women had been pierced, and their lifeless eyes stared blankly at her, swearing allegiance to the end. Her gaze shifted, and she saw a figure hop up to Mai and reach back. Before it could do anything however, Shoshi had seized her fire gem from her forehead, chanted a quick spell, and sent a blast of fire at the creature. It froze in mid-stab, then slowly crumpled to the floor and turned to ashes. Shoshi vaulted off her horse and ran over to Mai. "What happened?" she demanded. "How did you get decimated so easily?" She knew that Mai's unit was one of the best trained in the Nyosei army, so for them to reach a state such as this...

"Genbu, someone named Genbu attacked us."

"...What?! That can't be!"

"I am sure, Princess. He summoned men long dead from below the ground and ordered them to attack us. We barely stood a chance and would have all perished if not for a large explosion. This seemed to release the undead, and then you arrived."

Shoshi frowned and scanned the area. "I see," she said. What was going on? Was their island under attack? Because their Priestess had showed up? Why now? What they might want to do with Nyosei's Priestess she could only think of bad things, but more importantly, she had to get the women out of here before this Genbu person returned. Her fingers moved deftly, and she folded several horses. Those who were still able to stand saw what she was doing and began to assist those who could not. As she had done with the swallow, she blew on it, and sent it flying. The bird would alert her if anyone were coming. She gently helped Mai up and supported her carefully, leading her to the first animal. The beast nickered and knelt so it would be easier to slide the injured woman onto its back. Another woman, who had her arm bandaged already, held on to Mai from the back, keeping her steady on the seat.

"Warn the palace as soon as you are inside," Shoshi said. "The High Priestess set up wards around it so no one can just transport themselves inside without permission. It should be safe there at the very least. Warn my mother, get the warriors ready. Ask someone to take the girl we found today underground. We must keep her safe. I will remain here for about ten minutes to see what I can find out." She paused. "Don't come looking for me."

Mai smiled faintly. "Your Highness, please take care. I- we could not stand to lose you."

Shoshi rubbed Mai's shoulder. "I will be fine. It is you and your women I am more concerned about. Now go!"

The woman behind Mai nodded grimly, and she guided the horse. "Let's go," she said to the others. "We must do as the Princess asks."

This time, the response was not as energized. Shoshi blew across her palm again and directed the horses towards the palace. As she watched them trot out of sight, she turned back towards the battleground. There was upturned soil everywhere, and she could see traces of the fight around her. She knelt down, turning the dirt over in her hand. Men long dead? Zombies? Was he some kind of manipulator of the dead? If so, they had to take special precautions, perhaps burn the bodies that had been buried in the ground to act as fertilizer.

Suddenly, the sound of bird song warbled through the trees, and Shoshi whirled around. Something began to shimmer in the air, and in just a few seconds, a man and a woman appeared in front of her. The man wore foreign clothes, somewhat similar to what Nari had been wearing, and he was half-supporting the woman, who was dressed in Nyosein clothes. Her hand was to her torso, and Shoshi could see blood leaking out. Could it be..?

Her sword went out, and she pointed it at the pair. "Who are you? Are you the ones responsible for what's going on and the decimation of my guard?"

Nazo's eyes darted around nervously, finally resting on Haien. Was he still supposed to fake dumb? The woman before them seemed to be of high authority, although how high he had no idea. Her light blue hair (what was with all the different colors?) was bound into a ponytail and she had a red tiara embedded with gems on her forehead. There was an empty socket, perhaps for a larger jewel? He wasn't too sure, not being very familiar with jewelery. Argh. He needed to focus his thoughts. If he could keep a level mind, there just might be some way for him to rescue his sister and get the heck out of this crazy place. He had seen his sister be taken into the palace. Could this woman before them then know the location of Nari? Where.. where had he seen that style of clothing before? The tiara? It almost reminded him of royalty, and his thoughts were confirmed when Haien nudged him towards the ground.

"That is Princess Aremi," she whispered, kneeling. "She is the girl who most likely took your sister into the palace."

"What?" Nazo demanded as softly as he could.

"Don't say anything! Let me talk."

The princess's voice cut in. "Do not whisper amongst yourselves! I will not ask again. Who are you and what are you doing on this island?"

"Apologies, Your Highness," Haien said, bowing her head. "We were attacked, too. I was with these women, but we managed to escape through a stroke of pure luck."

The woman raised one delicate eyebrow. "Pure luck?"

Haien hesitated. "Yes, the man was distracted by the women, so we were able to flee."

"Heed your next words carefully, woman," the girl said severely. "For if they displease me, I will have you executed. Tell me from the beginning what happened."

The words that came from Haien's mouth never wavered. "I found this man and was coming to offer him to you as a gift. On the way, we met up with your soldiers and were heading towards the palace when there was a sudden earthquake. The source we soon saw to be a man named Genbu." Here she paused. "The name itself disturbed me, and I knew I had to get to safety. When I saw he was distracted, we fled."

"In plain words then, you sacrificed the safety of my women for your own and this.. this man?" the girl spat out. "Explain. Do not take me for a fool."

"I had to, Your Highness," Haien replied, bowing her head. "I have reason to believe that this young man may have his own use for us. As for me, I _have_ to stay alive. I am also needed, not just for my family's sake, but for this country."

Nazo saw the girl's grip on the sword tighten "You, a slip of a girl, are of more use for Nyosei than some of my most finely trained warriors?"

"..Yes."

"Enlighten me."

It was the moment of truth, a cliché phrase for a cliché instant. Could they trust her, princess though she was? Did they even have a choice? Nazo forced down the bile rising in his throat.

Haien continued to stare at the ground, knowing that Nazo's life relied entirely on what she said next. She had sensed a power when she had made her move, but the princess was not behaving like a fellow seishi. They could not run away this time and she prayed that she had not made a mistake. "You have heard of the legend of Tenkyoku?" she asked.

Nazo's breath stopped. Legend of Tenkyoku? Was this what the incantation had been referring to? Slowly the realization came to him that even if he did find his sister, they might not be able to leave the book world without finishing the story. He racked his brain, trying to see if he could dig up anything about the legend that they had landed themselves into.

"I know it well," the princess replied stiffly. "What about it?"

"I have reason to believe that it is about to unfold."

"Oh?"

"However, Your Highness, I am concerned that this fake Genbu will return. What I did to him will not slow him down for long if he is truly determined. Is it possible that we go to a safer, more secure area?"

The princess narrowed her eyes. "This area is secure enough. I have my ways of detecting whether or not someone is entering. In addition, I have no idea of knowing whether or not you are in league with that man. We will stay where we are."

Suddenly, Nazo got a flash of the Genbu person cursing wildly, unable to break through the barriers. He shuddered.

Haien swallowed. "Your Highness, we have all heard about the stories of how the other four countries had their own legends come true. First came the appearance of a young girl arriving from another world, whose mission was to gather the seven seishi of that country's god. She would-"

"This person is evidently not anatomically female however. What is your point?" the woman interrupted.

Royalty or not, the girl wasn't very polite, Nazo decided. At least she was straightforward?

"I beg your pardon, but you did not let me finish, Your Highness," Haien said softly. "It is true that he is not female as the legends state he would be, but they can be wrong. Tenkyoku is female, Your Highness. Why would she need a girl to summon her? They say that when the gods are summoned, they couple with their Priestesses. How will two women couple together so that Tenkyoku can share her power with her Priestess?"

"How we women of Nyosei couple, of course."

Nazo's face flamed red. Shit, shit, the images that were popping into his head now were _not_ something he'd ever want Nari to know about. He felt the girl's judging gaze on him and blushed even darker, glad that he was staring at the ground and not anywhere near eye level with her.

"Why would we, a female nation, need a male to save us?" the princess continued. "Haven't we done well on our own without men? Why would Tenkyoku force us to rely on one now?"

Haien said nothing.

"Why do you think Tenkyoku would have a male Priest?" the girl asked silkily. "Especially when she has already delivered a girl to us? Is this merely a ploy to save this poor bastard's life? Dressing him up in foreign clothes and hoping that you can fool us into believing that he is a Priest, only to flee at first chance? Tell me."

Girl? That had to be Nari! Nazo was about to speak when Haien jabbed him, silencing him. "Your Highness, I dare not give my reasons, for the consequences will be unpleasant for my friend and me," she said instead.

For a moment, he thought that she was going to run both of them through with her sword.

"Now he is your friend? I thought he was a gift to me. Be consistent or there is no chance you will be able to save yourselves before the Empress."

"I.."

"Who are you?" the princess demanded. "And who is this man? How did you meet up with him? Why is he who you claim he is?"

"I.. hail from Kounan, Your Highness," Haien said, her face pale. "My name is He Haien, but I have ties to Nyosei through my destiny as.. one of the seven seishi."

The girl was silent for a moment and the entire clearing went dead quiet. Then she spoke. "Which one?"

With her free hand, Haien pulled down her collar, revealing a brilliant violet character on her right collarbone. "Shiho, Your Highness," she said. "My mark is 'Ki, spirit.'"

"How do I know it's not simply a tattoo to fool me?"

At her question, the mark slowly faded.

The princess's eyes flickered when she saw this. "You are the one who tried to teleport into the palace then?" she asked.

"Yes, Your Highness."

Down went the sword and Nazo felt the tension release. Slowly the princess raised her arm and revealed a character in the middle of her wrist that shone exactly as Haien's had. 'Chou, butterfly,' it read, and he heard Haien suck in her breath.

"Call me Shoshi. I am also one of the Tenkyoku Seven," the girl said. "I apologize for my initial distrust. I had to be sure. Strange events are going on and I do not enjoy being in the dark about them."

"It is understandable."

"I am however concerned about the fact that we have two people from another world," Shoshi continued. "The last time this happened, Suzaku and Seiryuu went head to head. I hope this does not mean that we are about to have a civil war, with Nyosei pitted against herself. If this is to be the case, I cannot allow it. We have worked too hard to come to such a point."

"Your Highness, if you woul-"

Shoshi cut her off. "When it comes to the seishi and what our role is for Nyosei, my rank means nothing compared to what has been predetermined for us. Call me Shoshi."

"Shoshi.." Haien tested. "Please, if you would allow me to put forward a theory?"

"No," Nazo interrupted, his frustration finally winning. "I want to know about my sister. Where is she? And what do you two keep talking about? Tenkyoku? Seishi? Haien, you haven't explained any of it to me yet!"

Shoshi stared at Nazo, her expression unreadable. "She is at the palace. Safe. And for her protection while I was trying to decipher what was going on, I ordered her to tell anyone who asked that the man who had been with her was a stranger, not her brother."

"What?"

"It was for her protection," she emphasized. "Women associated with men here are not treated kindly. Until we get to the bottom of this, that will be the story we will stick with for now."

Nazo would have still fought, but he slowly loosened his muscles and exhaled. "Fine. I still want to know what's going on though and why you two keep blabbering about Tenkyoku and seishi."

Idly he wondered if Shoshi wished she still had him at swordpoint. He was also totally not keeping a level head.

"Shoshi," Haien ventured before the other girl could respond. "Nazo. Please. Let me take you to Mt. Taikyoku. I may know someone who may be able to answer all the questions and also sort out the confusion as to whether we have a Priest or a Priestess."

He glanced at her. "But.. you're bleeding. Is it safe to teleport like this?"

Haien smiled wryly, as if to rebuke him for only now asking. "The longer we talk, the more I'll bleed? I do like keeping my blood inside of me instead of psuedo-watering the plants. I know they have a taste for human flesh, and I'd rather they not develop one for human blood."

An image of vampire plants went through his mind. "It'd be perfect," he said sarcastically. He was worried however, and silently beat himself for forgetting that she had been injured. True, his thoughts were preoccupied by Nari's safety, but Haien had risked her life for his.

Shoshi shot him a reproving look, then knelt down besides Haien. "Let me slow the bleeding," she said. She ripped off the hem of her robe and pressed it to the slash, soaking up the blood. She tied it, then bound it tightly. Shoshi tore another strip and gently wrapped it around Haien's waist, tying it deftly. "It will do for now, but we need to get you to a doctor."

"Thank you."

Shoshi stood. "Let me go back for the girl then. Once we have her, we can go together to Mt. Taikyoku. You are sure you can get us in however? I thought the location was hidden."

"My brother is in training there," Haien replied. "I have also been blessed to be a disciple of Taiitsukun."

Shoshi took out a piece of paper and folded it. She blew on it and a horse expanded from her creation. Caught by surprise, Nazo stepped back and almost tripped. She laughed. "Paper magic," she said, getting on the creature.

Nazo muttered something under his breath close to profanity.

"What if Genbu comes back?" Haien asked.

"Protect His Eminence," Shoshi said. "I will return with his sister as soon as I can."

"She can't! She's injured!" Nazo burst out.

"I'm fine."

"Haien!"

"You are forgetting your place, Your Eminence," Shoshi said evenly. "As a seishi of Tenkyoku, she is duty-bound to protect you from all harm. You should also address her as Shiho from right now to prevent yourselves from becoming too familiar."

"Why can't you take us with you?" Nazo wanted to know.

"It'd be endangering all of us," she replied shortly before slapping the side of her horse and galloping away.

"Of all the-!"

"She's right," Haien said quietly. "It is my job to protect you. If I can't, then I shouldn't be calling myself a seishi."

"But Haien-"

It seemed to be the day for interruptions, because she cut in before he could finish. "She's right there, too. Who we are doesn't matter compared to what we are. From now on, call me Shiho. Our mission is to summon Tenkyoku and protect Nyosei from whatever is about to happen."

He started to protest again, to say that he didn't want to, that it didn't matter anyway, because they were all in a book, but even he didn't know for sure if they were in a book, or if he and Nari had somehow pulled a Narnia or a Karnia, whatever that one popular Western story was. They too had only been able to finally leave the magical world when their tasks were finished. Even though he had had a feeling that this was the sort of problem that he'd gotten himself and Nari into, it was still hard to take in. With a frustrated groan, he collapsed next to Haien and buried his face in his hands. He felt her lean against him, and he sighed.

"I give up," he said. "I'm going to just hope this works out for the best and we can return home afterwards."

**x**

A knock on her door interrupted Kari's work. She debated ignoring it but decided not to. She leaned back in her chair and called, "Come in."

Yuta waltzed in. "I saw that loser Shimajima again today," he said.

"Don't call him that," she snapped.

He was taken aback, she could tell. Then his face darkened. "Why not? You know what he did to you. How can you even forgive him? He-"

She cut him off. "What happened between Nazo and me is none of your business, although I appreciate your concern."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Don't ever tell me to look out for you again. Geez."

He left her in peace after that, leaving her free to scrutinize her own feelings. She knew why Yuta hated Nazo, but she could not bring herself to do the same. Yuta meant well trying to protect her, but she was twenty now; she could take care of herself without her kid brother interfering. Kari glanced back at the book and stared at the words writing themselves in the open page.

_The young man resigned himself to the fate that had been written for him and sat next to Shiho, contemplating. At least for that moment, they could have a few moments of peace. The road ahead would be difficult, and the question of why both the young man and his sister had been pulled into the story hung heavily in their hearts. Nothing they had ever gone through would be able to prepare them for what was ahead. _

"No," she whispered. "No, it can't be."

The sentence stared back at her.

"Shimajima!" she cried. "Nazo! It's me, Kari! Nazo!"

There was no answer, not that she expected one from a book, even a magical one. She flipped back a few pages, which only confirmed that her friend was indeed inside the book, along with his younger sister.

"No," Kari said again, this time determined. "I'll get to the bottom of this! There has to be a way out for them!"

She couldn't let this happen to him, not Nazo, not after everything they had been through. She couldn't, especially not in the cliché way the book had written. Kari almost threw the book off her bed, but thought better against it at the last minute. Instead, she set it aside and rolled over to her computer, cursing herself for not having looked up the book sooner.

"Universe of the Four Gods," she said, typing it quickly into the search engine, and hit enter.

* * *

_Next Episode: To Each Other_ - Finally the two siblings can be reunited! Or.. can they? Will Genbu reappear or will it be a new enemy this time?

* * *

More A/N!

Haien/Shiho's symbol: "Ki" for spirit.  
Aremi/Shoshi's symbol: "Chou" for butterfly.

I'm a little worried about consistency of the characters, so if anyone has any suggestions on that, would be awesome. I also made some edits to the previous chapters. \o Hopefully they help with the overall flow and whatnot. I will also be using Shiho and Shoshi from now on, unless there is a special reason~.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I will update as soon as I can. =D -hugs reader- x3


	7. EP 07: To Each Other

**Episode Seven: To Each Other**

Nari tried to relax in the hot springs. She had been ushered there shortly after arriving, only with the explanation that that was what the Princess had wanted. A bath? At a time like this? She hoped it wasn't because she smelled terrible; she had showered in the morning and even put deodorant on. However, the stony gazes they had given her had quelled any desire to question the orders, and so she had passively followed them and went where she was told. What had almost happened to her before Shoshi had interfered still frightened her and she did not want to do anything that would arouse that sort of behavior again. It was not to say that the hot springs were not beautiful, and they were, but it was ironic that the first time she was really in one was when she wasn't even in her own world. She stripped and let the warm waters flow over her tense muscles. With a sigh, she blew out and looked up at the ceiling. The spring was indoors and quite the marvel in itself. It had been constructed underground below the castle and had wooden walls. Lighted lanterns flickered in the room, giving it a dim, almost haunted aura. The fires in each one were gentle, and to the end of the row, there was a patch of bamboo. The tiles on the ceiling were covered with patterns, and she saw a few ornately drawn wolves. They seemed alive, so detailed was the work. Looking closely, she saw that the eyes were in reality gems. Nari took in a deep breath, inhaling the moist air, then exhaled slowly, letting the tension in her body ease out.

Why was she even here when her brother was missing? Shoshi had told her to wait there until she came back, but Nari wasn't sure what to do while she was waiting. She couldn't stand not knowing where Nazo was or if he was safe or not. What Shoshi had hinted to her frightened her, and she felt guilty for enjoying the springs while her brother could be in mortal danger. As a result, she was hesitant to take a bath, as she was sure Shoshi wanted her to do. Quickly she made up her mind and rose from the spring, wrapped a waiting towel around her body, and tied her wet hair back up into a ponytail. There were some clothes laid out for her by the maids, and she paused as she lifted the robes and held it to her chest, her heart wanting to weep. If only Nazo hadn't felt the need to warm her up. If only she hadn't picked that book out from the shelf. If only, if only, the list could go on for hours. At the same time, she couldn't help but notice that the fabric felt much richer than anything she had ever worn before.

Nari squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head furiously. No! What was she doing? How could she be doing this at a time like this? Where was her loyalty to her brother? She felt tears slip down her cheeks, and she buried her face in the clothes. She felt so helpless and weak; what could she do without him there to support her? He had always watched her back, and now without him, she was nothing. She knew however that this was no time to fall apart. If she wanted to see Nazo again, she had to fight. The fact that he sacrificed so much for her drove her to work her hardest, to make him regret nothing. Having resolved to this, she quickly wiped her tears and slipped into the clothes. If playing along with the story meant she'd be closer to getting out, then that was exactly what she was going to do. Her fingers fumbled at the sash, but she managed to knot it, and when she was done, she raised her head and practiced a smile. This was how she wanted Nazo to find her again when they were reunited. Strong, cheerful, independent, able to be without her brother for a few hours, not the weeping, weak wimp she had been a few minutes ago.

There was a knock, and Nari knew she had finished just in time. She hurried to the door, but it opened before she could reach it. A black-haired woman stumbled in and almost fell down. Nari froze. It was the same woman who had ordered for her to be stripped. Nari gritted her teeth. She didn't want anything to do with her, but at the same time, the woman was injured. She threw away her misgivings and ran to help her, but the woman glared at her, and she took a few steps back.

"..Are you all right?" Nari asked tentatively.

"Do I _look_ all right?"

Nari stepped back even more. Her fear threatened to overwhelm her, but she forced herself to stand her ground.

"I'm sorry," she said hesitantly. "That was a stupid question."

The woman looked at her. Nari bowed her head. Her heart pounded. Unfortunately, she had never learned the woman's name, and now she was afraid to ask. She had no idea if it would make the woman friendlier towards her, but she still wished she knew. The woman coughed as she leaned against the door frame, then beckoned for Nari to come.

"The Princess wants you to go underground until she arrives, where you will be safer. We are under attack."

Nari hesitated, then nodded. Wordlessly, the woman led her out, and the maids, who had reappeared, closed the door behind them. They bowed to the woman, and she grunted, then turned left towards some stairs and began descending.

The walls around them were stone, a stark contrast to the gilded gold pillars that she had walked past to get to the hot springs. The main goal here was defense, not aesthetics. Nari bowed her head. The woman had said something about them being under attack. Was Nazo safe outside? Had Shoshi managed to locate him somehow and was on her way back? She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost ran into her escort, who had stopped in front of another door and was now staring at her.

The woman's eyes narrowed as she looked Nari up and down. "Hmph. Don't see what she sees in you."

Nari said nothing, afraid to speak.

"The Princess isn't looking for a lover right now," the woman said haughtily. "I should know because she's expressed no interest in it, even though there are plenty of fine women in the castle." She spat on the ground. " So why did she bring you here?"

"..What?"

"You heard me right. Don't pretend you're so naïve."

"I don't understand..?"

"Don't think you're safe just because you're in the Princess's favor for now," she warned. "We may love her, but it doesn't mean we have to trust you."

"That's enough, Mai," Shoshi's voice cut in smoothly.

"Your Highness!"

"You may take your leave. I need to have some private words with her. Thank you for escorting Nari."

Mai's expression clouded, but she bowed and stepped backwards, letting the two of them walk past her, and closed the door behind her. Shoshi and Nari were left together on their own in the cave, and what Mai had said earlier flashed through Nari's mind.

"Shoshi, when she asked-"

Shoshi smiled. "You have nothing to fear. You're not my type."

Nari opened her mouth to speak, but decided against it. Instead, she bit her lip, remembering just in time to refer to Nazo as Shoshi had told her. "Do you have news of the stranger?" she asked.

"In fact, I do. I have found him, along with another seishi. They are aboveground."

"Aboveground, but-!"

"They are safe," Shoshi interrupted. "He is with another seishi, and she should be quite capable of protecting him. I have come back to fetch you. Once we are together, we will plot our next course of action. We will need to move quickly, and I will also have to report to my mother about the events that have transpired. She has surely heard news of it from her sources."

"What's going to happen to the stranger?" Nari asked.

Shoshi frowned. "I have a plan, but whether or not it will work is a different question. It will be quite the daring one as there has never been a precedent, but as all the other gods were male, it could work. It's also possible that it may end up being the truth, but then that begs the question of why you are here. The likelihood of the women of Nyosei accepting that story is also a hard one to answer." She glanced at Nari. "I suppose you have never heard any tales then of our country, seeing as you aren't from this world?"

Nari shook her head, and Shoshi continued. "As I mentioned earlier, the men who arrive here are not treated kindly," she said. "They have three options: have their eyes gouged out so that they become seed bearers; become laborers in our deep mines; or executed in public and any useful organs or limbs are saved for later use. "

A gasp escaped from Nari at those words, and Shoshi met her gaze levelly. "I will be the first to admit that the measures we take against the opposite sex are not kind, but they are a must. Because our island is so feared and shrouded in myth, we are protected from our neighboring brothers. I do not know what kind of world your world is like, but here, women may be sold to provide for their families, be forced to serve their husbands' families, or even beaten for no reason they can comprehend. In Nyosei, they are free to do as they please and answer to no one but themselves. It is because we have the society and culture that we have that we are not oppressed." She laughed ironically. "You could say we are the first true matriarchy, but that we have taken an extreme path. It is not known when the other countries will rise in protest, but we will be prepared when they do. We have not spent our time only idly raping men and drinking the liquor made from their eyeballs."

"You.. put it so bluntly," Nari said softly. Inside however, she felt sick. If such a fate were to befall Nazo, she didn't know what she would do. What she _could_ do to save him. "Do you really see it like that?"

"I do. I have been raised to those beliefs, and although I may not entirely agree with them, it is my duty to see them carried out. After all, I must protect the women here at all costs."

Nari bit her lip and looked at the ground. "I see."

"I do not expect you to understand our ways, but it is how we survive," Shoshi said. She paused, then smiled with her eyes. "I will be back shortly. Stay here. I must speak with my mother the Empress personally about protecting the castle. And do not worry. I promise I will do everything in my power to keep the stranger safe."

So far, Shoshi had been true to her word, and she had done nothing to disprove herself. Nari nodded silently and watched the princess open the door. The scary lady and Shoshi exchanged a few words, and the door closed behind them. Nari flopped onto the hard ground and ran her hand through her hair, which was still damp. Busy herself with simple tasks, she decided. That would pass the time by quickly. She should have thought of bringing a towel with her on the way down here. The last thing she needed was to catch a cold here. As she brought her head to her knees, she sighed. Maybe she could find something to sweep the floor with. It didn't really need cleaning, but a menial job would ease the unrest in her heart.

The sound of claws scrabbling across stone caught her attention, and she looked around for the source. What she found delighted her, and she knelt, holding her hand out. "Here, little guy," she said softly. "What are you doing way down here?"

The squirrel, for that was what it was, leaned towards her hand and sniffed it carefully. Its fur was black, and it had a white belly and orange markings on its front legs. It also looked nothing like the squirrels back in Japan. The squirrel swished its tail and backed away as it regarded her curiously. Nari smiled and pulled back, hoping that the squirrel would feel more comfortable. She wished dearly that she had thought to bring some of the food from the hot springs down so she could feed the squirrel. It was a cheering thought to see that the rodents that were so common back in Japan were just as common here.

As she watched, the squirrel slowly crept closer until it was directly before her. She grinned, then did her best to imitate the squirrelly squeaks she often heard back at home. Maybe it would understand that she was squirrel tilted its head, then put a paw on her knee. When she did not move, it wriggled its nose and quickly climbed up the rest of her body and settled down on her shoulder. She laughed as its fluffy tail tickled her cheek. Oh, she did wonder how it had found its way here! It was so far away from home, just like her. She hoped it wasn't too scared and resolved to find it some nice nuts when Shoshi came back.

There was a small snore, and Nari laughed softly to herself when she realized it came from the squirrel. She did her best to keep the shoulder the squirrel slept on steady as she slowly rearranged herself into a more comfortable position.

The door opened again and Shoshi reappeared. She had a bag slung over her shoulder and a sheath at her side. She had also changed what looked like traveling clothes.

"Look what I found!" Nari exclaimed.

Shoshi however was not so amiable towards the squirrel. With a quick motion, she seized the sleeping creature from Nari's shoulder and held it up with one hand, scrutinizing it. "How did you get down here?" she demanded, ignoring its terrified squeaks. "You are a squirrel. It is not like there are nuts down here, or even a ground you can bury them in. Are you a spy from the enemy? Do you have a bomb strapped to you?"

"Shoshi!" Nari protested. "It's just a squirrel!"

"That sort of thinking lets your guard down far too much," Shoshi said. "However, you are correct in thinking it is not an enemy." While still holding the squirrel in one hand, she pointed at a gleaming character above what would have been the rodent's belly button if it had one. "This squirrel is a _seishi,_ believe it or not."

**x**

"You did as I asked?"

Genbu knelt before his leader and bowed. "Yes. It was successful. They most likely believe I am incapacitated now."

The man's lip curled. "Good. Send in a seishi now. Tell him to kill the extra one."

**x**

Nazo supported Shiho until she found a spot that she deemed safe, and now they were sitting together awkwardly like in one of those romantic comedies that Nari always liked to read, except this wasn't a comedy, and he had no time for love anyway. As it was, he did his best to make it not so awkward and tried to strike up a conversation.

"So uh, where did you learn Japanese?"

Shiho blinked. "Japanese?"

"Yeah, the language you're speaking right now..?"

"I'm speaking the Kounan dialect of Chinese."

"..."

With an inward sigh, he surmised that it was most likely because this was after all an enchanted book, and at least it had taken the safeguard of letting him be able to magically understand the language of the natives there and they him. One good point out of who knew how many bad ones. Still, at least things were starting to look a bit up, even if one of the characters they had met was a slightly psychotic and arrogant princess. He laughed silently at the thought. To think he had met a real live princess. Landed himself in the place of the old myths and folklore that he loved so much? Okay, so maybe there was more good to this book than he had first thought. He had a chance to have a firsthand experience in this world, something he might never have gone through if he hadn't opened the book. He could see how people really lived back then, although the fact that it was a book meant that some facts would be skewed. Also, hadn't it mentioned something about the power to wish for anything? What if he could wish for financial security?

"That's it!" he said out loud, and Shiho gave him an inquisitive look. "How many wishes am I allowed? At least one, right?"

Shiho bit her lip. "If I remember right, it was three."

Nazo mentally cheered. "That inscription said that I could have the power to wish for anything. If one of the wishes is used to preserve Nyosei, though who knows why a place like this should be saved, then the other two wishes can be used for personal use, right?"

"I'm not sure things will turn out that simple," Shiho replied. "They rarely did for the other four Priestesses."

Nazo hesitated. "Four Priestesses, eh? That means there have been other people who have come to this world? I thought you and that crazy princess-"

"Shoshi," Shiho corrected firmly.

"Fine. Shoshi. I thought you and Shoshi were talking about some girls who had arrived here. What were their stories?"

Shiho frowned. "I am only really familiar with Kounan's Priestess, as that's where I'm from. She arrived in our world one day as Kutou was preparing to invade our land. A bunch of stuff happened, including a huge misunderstanding with her best friend, who as a result became Priestess of Seiryuu, and the two had to fight against each other. Saving her best friend became one of her three wishes. Another was to seal Seiryuu away forever."

"Wait. Back up. The two girls became enemies?"

"Yes."

"But how?! I mean, they were best friends, right?"

Shiho snorted. "They say the greatest love will breed the greatest hatred."

"I know that, but.."

Shiho shivered suddenly. Nazo cursed himself. He had almost forgotten that she was injured. Chivalrous gentleman he was. Nari would have been ashamed of him. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I was being thoughtless. You can uh. Have my jacket."

A wonder his jacket didn't have holes all over from all the punishment it'd been through. Only proof that sometimes, a good quality jacket was worth the money to buy. Heck, he could see if he could submit as an advertisement for the company. A jacket able to stand the abuses of demented women, zombie masters, and getting shoved through foliage that could seriously injure someone. He mentally rolled his eyes. Yeah, it'd definitely get him some extra money if he didn't get thrown into the nuthouse first. With that in mind, he slid the jacket off of him, and Shiho smiled a thank you as he gently wrapped it around her. He was glad to see that the bleeding seemed to have stopped for the most part. "We should uh.. get some food when Shoshi comes back," he said.

She laughed. "Hungry, huh? You really are a guy."

Nazo rolled his eyes. "No, it's for you. Get some iron back into your system. Water, liquids, all that good stuff."

Shiho raised an eyebrow. "Iron? I don't need any metal in my body. I'll stick to just blood and chi, thank you."

Right. Right. That was knowledge she couldn't have known, not at this age and time. He really should be more careful about what he said and did. He had no idea if anything he did would affect anything in his own time. Of course, if he were here now, it was highly possible that anything he did would have already affected his own life. Or maybe anything he didn't do would end up affecting the present negatively. Or maybe this was really just a book world, constructed only by the power of words? Here he was though, so it couldn't be just a book world. A parallel world then?

Damn all the conundrums.

Well. He was here now, and like he had decided earlier, the only thing he could do was make the best out of what he could. He was determined not to let the fates of the Priestesses of Suzaku and Seiryuu become his and Nari's. Communication. Yes. That was key. He would make sure that she had no reason to doubt him. This he was confident he could do. Now that he knew he was about to see his sister again, he could slowly feel his brain start to work sensibly and even question some of what was going on.

"So let me get this straight," he said. "This.. this country. Has a Goddess that she worships? Called Tenkyoku?"

"Yes."

"And in order for Her to be summoned, you need someone from another world?"

"Yes."

"Why does it have to be from another world? I'm sure there are plenty of guys here who'd want to have such a high honor."

"Actually, there aren't," Shiho said with a laugh. "You think any sane guy would come to this country voluntarily? After what you've seen?"

"..Good point."

They fell again into a more or less comfortable silence until Nazo thought of something else. "So basically your people are asking for any random person to become their Summoner? What if it's a psycho?"

"..."

"What if they wished for domination in both worlds?" Nazo continued. "How can you trust someone from another world? You wouldn't even know their motives. Heck, you don't even know mine!"

Shiho raised her eyebrow again. "If you want, I could force it out of you."

"..I'll pass, thank you."

There was a brief pause.

"I wonder," he said, because every conversation like this needed a musing moment like this. "If this world sensed that I wanted something more from my life."

"Perhaps."

He glanced over at Shiho. "So what's your reason for being here?"

"I'm here for you.

"What?!"

"I exist for the sole purpose of protecting you."

"..."

Shiho stared at him, then grinned. "You're not good at taking jokes, are you?"

"..Nope."

She just laughed. "All right, all right, I'm sorry."

"Apologies accepted," Nazo said, grumbling.

"Anyway," Shiho continued. "I'm in Nyosei because as I explained to Shoshi earlier, I'm one of the Tenkyoku seishi. I am originally from Kounan, but after learning of the part I would be playing, I came here."

"I see."

"I really do help strangers to this island like I told you, but," she added hastily. "You _can't_ let Shoshi know."

And how ironic would it be if Shoshi were to return with Nari right this instance, at this opportune moment, Nazo thought wryly. That did remind him of something else however. "You said you had a brother?"

"Yeah. He's older than me. You'll meet him soon. He's a seishi, too." She grinned slyly at him. "He's even more serious than you are, so you'll get along fabulously."

"Eh. Maybe?"

Shiho sighed. "Hey. Don't worry. Your sister will be here soon."

"Yeah."

"How's your nose?" she asked, changing the subject.

He touched it gingerly. "A bit sore. Not bleeding anymore though, which is a plus."

She merely nodded in response. Nazo noticed that her eyelids were starting to droop, so he said in what he hoped was a helpful tone, "You can sleep on my shoulder if you want."

Immediately her head hit his shoulder. He winced, hoping said shoulder wasn't too bony for her. Her body followed suit, leaning sideways against him so that her shoulder touched his arm. He was acutely aware of how close they were to each other and flushed. Hopefully Shiho couldn't hear his heart racing.

The silence that stretched between the two of them was interrupted by the sound of rustling in the bushes. Nazo stood abruptly, accidentally dislodging Shiho. "That must be her!" he exclaimed.

Alert again, Shiho seized Nazo's arm, pulling him down to the ground. "It could be a trap!" she whispered fiercely. "Stay here."

As she got to her feet and started toward the sounds however, a blue head stuck out of the foliage. Shiho and Nazo watched in amazement as the rest of his body and a monk's staff followed. "Trap?" the stranger said, pushing his straw hat back. "I'm no trap, no da."

* * *

_Next episode: _A Thorny Situation - Dialogue. Dialogue. And more dialogue! What's with the seishi squirrel and the newcomer with a straw hat? And is he really not a trap?

* * *

A/N: Uh. Yeah. Sorry this chapter ended up having so much dialogue. The next one will have a lot, too, but.. I'll try not to have so much. And sorry they didn't actually get to meet. xD;.. it got a bit too long, so yeah. . I am working on slowly introducing the other characters, so.. next chapter will have some more people. I'm a bit disappointed that it took until now to really show more of Nari's personality, but hope it wasn't too bad of a wait. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it~.


	8. EP 08: A Thorny Situation

_A/N: Whoa. Just. Ahahaha. Whoa. This chapter took me a while to write, but you will see why. Hopefully it does not disappoint! I also made some edits to previous chapters (as always) to fix inconsistencies. Also added a small section in the previous one, but if you don't want to go back and look, it gets mentioned here briefly, too. _

_Anyway, Fushigi Yuugi does not belong to me. It belongs to Yuu Watase and .. all that other good stuff. This story idea however is my own creation, as are any original characters. _

**Episode Eight: A Thorny Situation**

The sudden surprise of seeing a monk come out of nowhere, especially on a female island like Nyosei, shocked Shiho and Nazo into silence for a few minutes. He was quite the odd-looking one, too, what with wearing a wide, cone-shaped straw hat, and a dark blue shawl with white circles on it. Yes. Very odd, Nazo thought to himself. The man's face looked like ^.^, and he thought that even though this book was really reminding him of an anime, perhaps this was a bit too much. Like Shoshi, the monk, because that was what the outfit seemed to be from what he remembered of Chinese history, also had blue hair, although about a third of his bangs were sticking up in a curve. A cowlick? Eh? Whatever. The rest was tied neatly in a ponytail at the nape of his neck.

The stranger stared back, a bemused expression on his face. When neither Shiho or Nazo spoke, he bowed. "I'm no trap, no da," he repeated.

"What."

"Who are you?!"

He held up both his hands. "No need to be so antagonistic. I mean you no harm, no da. My name is Chichiri, and I am one of the Suzaku Seven."

"Suzaku Seven? But.. according to what I heard, didn't that legend happen two hundred years ago?" Shiho asked. "You look too young to be him, and I know his power wasn't immortality. How do we know you're telling the truth?"

"Like a phoenix that dies in flames and is reborn in flames," Chichiri said. "All the seishi live in a reincarnation cycle once their legend begins. We are reborn, generation after generation, after our first adventure with our Priestess. Even when our Priestess is not here and may not return, we continue to protect her country as she wished." He paused. "It is our way of showing our loyalty to her, and it will be your way of showing your loyalty to him."

Nazo shot Shiho a look and almost laughed when he saw what must have been realization dawn on her face. Then just as suddenly, it clouded over.

"How do we know it's not a trap?" she insisted. "We just butted heads with someone claiming to be Genbu. How do we know you aren't on his side?"

"I know who you speak of, and he is a large part of the reason why I am here, but I assure you, I am not friends with him. I could show you my sign, but you could argue that it is a tattoo-"

"Do it."

It was hard to read his face, but Nazo detected a faint note of surprise. However, the monk complied and while holding on to his staff, raised his left pants leg to show a glowing red sign, "well," on his shin.

"Now hide it."

The sign winked out.

"And how do we know you are not siding with him? And that anything you're about to tell us is the truth?" Shiho asked. "If someone were to take on the name of one of the gods, why not also recruit some of the seishi, too?"

"This is something that he has indeed done, but I'm not one of them. If you will allow me to take you to Taiitsukun, she will explain, no da."

Shiho raised an eyebrow. "You know how to get to her?"

Chichiri nodded. "Yes, like my predecessor, I have also been blessed with the opportunity to train under her."

Shiho glanced over at Nazo and nodded. She was telling him that her guard was still up, but perhaps he was trustworthy after all. After all, Shiho had proved herself to Shoshi the exact same way. How she had determined that she still needed to be careful Nazo wasn't sure, but he trusted her judgment of the situation far more than his own.

"Now what was that about you knowing about Genbu?" she demanded. "He claimed to be a powerful warrior and said he claimed the name because it was not the name that mattered but rather the figure. Do you know his plans or something?"

Chichiri's forehead creased over. "I can answer that soon, but first, you are bleeding," he said. "We should really get that treated, no da."

"Thank you, I had no idea," Shiho replied. "Thank you for enlightening me, no, really."

Nazo laughed silently to himself. It was nice to see someone else being her target, although he did feel a bit bad for the Suzaku seishi. Chichiri looked a bit put-off, but he said nothing in reply.

"So you are Chichiri," Shiho continued, speaking more normally now. "I heard about you. Where have you been these last seven years?"

Again, the mild surprise. "I've been wandering around the world. Seeing how things are, no da. It was Taiitsukun's request that I report back to her the goings of a particular group in the west. No one would suspect anything; my first incarnation after all was a wandering monk."

Incarnation. Incarnation. Yes. That was it! "Chichiri! Do you remember your past memories? Please. Do you remember anything?"

"Nazo, what are you-"

"I remember a bit, no da," Chichiri responded. "Why do you ask?"

"I need to know. Was there ever a point in time when you were able to send your Priestess back to her world? And if not in your time, then in another Priestesses?"

"I.. as a matter of fact, yes, but it required help from Taiitsukun and at least three other seishi."

"Please," Nazo said. "Please. Please tell me how you took her back. I need to send my sister back. This is not the place for her, Priestess or not, or whatever brought her here. I'll do it. I'll take her place."

"I don't think you have a choice about taking her place or not," Chichiri replied quietly. "It's not something that we were ever able to control, or the entire mess with Seiryuu would have never happened, no da."

"Mess? Tell me what you know about that," Nazo demanded.

"You get distracted so easily," Shiho said wryly.

"Shush."

Shiho said nothing more, but he did notice that she was chuckling. Well, if she wanted to, it was her choice. It wasn't his fault new information kept popping up. Shiho had already given him a brief summary of what had happened to Kounan's priestess, but he still knew very little about the circumstances that had led to Seiryuu's priestess turning against her best friend. What had been that misunderstanding? The longer Nari was apart from him, the more worried he became that somehow, the two of them might have their own misunderstanding. No. He had to get her out of this world as soon as possible, and Shiho was right; he couldn't get deterred this easily.

"Please. How do I send my sister back to our world?" Nazo asked again, this time refusing to let himself get distracted. He could figure out the backstory of the two girls later. "It's important."

Chichiri hesitated. "I can't promise you anything, no da. You only have one seishi right now, and her power certainly won't be enough."

"Thanks," Shiho said dryly.

Chichiri bowed. "I meant no offense, no da. From what I remember, we were barely able to do it with three last time, and one of them was Tamahome, our strongest seishi."

"Eh. Thanks anyway."

He would not let himself be deterred, but Nazo did store the name in his memory for a later time. He could tell however that Chichiri had no idea if Shiho was being serious or not, but he decided not to say anything. Let the monk figure it out for himself. It was obvious that Shiho didn't completely trust Chichiri because she made no mention of Shoshi or her brother. He figured it was best he didn't then either, seeing as she had much more experience in this world while he had at most a few hours.

"So. Uh." Nazo pushed his glasses up his nose nervously. The silence was awkward, probably even more awkward than when he had asked Shiho about why she existed, which come to think of, was kind of a stupid question. "Do we just sit here and wait now?" he asked.

"Pretty much," Shiho replied wearily. She looked away, and that was the end of the conversation.

**x**

Kari clicked on the first link that popped up. That one ended up being useless, something about Yu Yu Hakusho. Apparently the four gods were antagonists in that manga. She remembered it vaguely, but it was one she had never had much interest in. She clicked through a few more, but those didn't provide much information. With a frustrated groan, she turned away from the computer and her eyes fell on the open page in the book.

_"Send a seishi in," said the young hero's unknown antagonist. "Kill the extra one."_

Her blood ran cold. Was the extra one Nazo or his sister? Quickly she flipped to the previous page and she scanned it. Any new characters? No, just a bunch of useless- there he was! A monk, one who claimed to be a reincarnation of a Suzaku warrior. He was now accompanying her friend, along with the Tenkyoku seishi, Shiho, as they waited for Shoshi and Nari to come back from the Nyosein castle. Was it possible that he was the one Nazo's enemy was referring to?

"Nazo!" she screamed into the book. "Nazo! No! Don't trust him! Don't trust Chichiri!"

But once again, her cries fell on deaf ears. She clenched her fists. Somehow. Somehow she had to be able to reach him. But how?

**x**

Shoshi and Nari managed to slip away from the other women. As Nari was now dressed in traditional Nyosein wear, it was much easier to do that than if she had been wearing her old clothes. Finding some hadn't been easy, but Mai could be trusted. The squirrel, whom Shoshi had identified as Tei, rode on Nari's shoulder. It refused to let Shoshi touch him and would shy away if the princess tried. Not that Shoshi really cared, as long as Tei did his job in protecting the Priestess.

If Nari was even the Priestess.

That was the question that nagged at Shoshi. She had pondered over what Shiho had said on the way back to the castle, when she found Nari, and after she had gone to talk to her mother.

"I have heard rumors that our Priestess may have been found," Empress Anhei had said.

Shoshi had knelt before her mother. "It is possible, but we need to know more."

Her mother had waved her away with her hand then, an acknowledgment that the princess do her own detective work. Both knew what was expected of a seishi and the dangers that would arise; Shoshi had been prepared for it from birth, when the High Priestess had revealed her true destiny to the Empress. Her power did not reveal itself until she was six, and it had been a result of folding a paper crane, the symbol of wishes. Her nursemaid had run to the Empress as soon as it was discovered that Princess Aremi could bring paper creations to life simply by giving them breath.

From then on, Aremi was put under a strict regimen of training. By the time she was eight, she had mastered her power. Her fingers were swift and she was able to fold even the most complicated creatures within minutes. At the age of nine, she was given a sacred ruby gem that could spout fire with an incantation. Much practice had to have been done, as at first, she had scorched her bangs and eyebrows off. She was a frequent visitor to the healer, who admonished her for not being careful enough. Gradually however, that technique became her own, too. Aremi became well-versed in the usage of all weapons, with the chain whip being her specialty. In her free time, she was expected to study strategy and history, and she did, devouring the books given to her. A quick learner, they had said. A shame that a princess such as she also had to be a seishi. The latter was whispered, but Shoshi still heard them. It didn't bother her though; her sense of duty was deep, hammered into her at a young age. She had accepted her fate a long time ago, and it did not faze her when she chose her burial site and the words that would be engraved on her headstone.

None of this was touched on however in their conversation. How could it be? Speaking tender words to her firstborn daughter was simply something Empress Anhei did not do. She was determined that Aremi, or Shoshi, become strong on her own, without the need to rely on anyone. After all, she was not only heir to the throne but also a Celestial warrior. If she could not handle her job, then simply put, she didn't deserve the honor of being a seishi. Did she love her daughter? No one knew. All they knew was that the Empress had high expectations for Princess Aremi, and so the people followed suit.

It was not her way to discuss private matters, and Shoshi had no confidante. The closest friend she had was Mai. The two had grown up together and she trusted Mai with her life. It did not surprise her that the woman had feelings for her; she too had suspected it for a long time. It was a subject she dared not broach upon however, as she risked losing Mai's friendship. Love was not a treasure she would ever be lucky enough to find. Duty, her responsibilities, was what filled her life. Not love.

Only a few of Shoshi's most trusted lieutenants and the Empress knew of her secret mission. They did not want to spread the word that the Priestess might have come to Nyosei for fear the uproar that might result. Not even her sister fully understood everything. All she knew was that it was more than likely that she would come to the throne than Shoshi herself. Her sister was thirteen. She had just hit the threshold of what it meant to be a woman. Old enough to lead her own fishing hunts, but not old enough to be privy to the secret of Shoshi's destiny and why she too was being groomed for the throne.

"Don't die. You know the women prefer you over me," was her sister's words to her after she left their mother. Always curious, she was already trying to eavesdrop on council meetings. She had the makings of a good leader. All she needed was time to mature.

"I make no promises," was Shoshi's reply.

As with their mother, they shared no embrace. It was no coincidence that her sister was exactly six years younger than her. After all, the island needed an heir to the throne just in case.

Shoshi returned her thoughts to the matter at hand. Legend stated that Tenkyoku would only appear in times of trouble. As she had told Nari, there was no sign of any problems in Nyosei. Was there some sort of secret rebellion or something else entirely that was going on? There was also the complication of Nazo also being there. Shoshi had forbidden the women who had been in Mai's unit to speak of the two who had been with them when Genbu had attacked, and she also knew that they would keep their lips sealed. Although they did not understand what was going on, it was not often that their princess would come to them with such a strange request and they trusted her judgment. It was after all unnatural for the princess to be helping a newcomer to the island without first running her through the gauntlet, so there had to be something going on. When the time came, everything would be explained.

Shoshi helped Nari up her horse. As the girl had never even come close to a horse before besides her first ride to the palace, it was quite the chore. They had to struggle to get one leg over the side, then keep her upright as she steadied herself. Shoshi even put a saddle on, a large one, so it would be easier for Nari to hang on. Without meaning to, Shoshi was short with the girl. Something was wrong on Nazo's side. When the two were ready to leave, she nudged her horse, and they galloped off. There was a sense of urgency to her actions; she was attuned to the young man's chi, much more than she had expected. Perhaps Shiho, that Kounan girl, was right. Perhaps Nazo really was their Priest. Why then was Nari also pulled into their world? And was there a way to send her back without altering the fate of Nyosei?

The questions swirled around her head as she raced back to the clearing where she had left Shiho and Nazo, hoping that nothing had happened to them.

**x**

About ten minutes had passed, but still no Nari or Shoshi. Nazo was getting antsy. He wasn't sure how Shiho was holding up either, but she wasn't saying anything, so he wasn't sure if he should or not. Even if she was one of his so-called Warriors, they weren't exactly friends, and with Chichiri here as the third wheel, yeah. It was awkward enough to be depending on an almost complete stranger, and when that was added up with a mysterious newcomer that they didn't even know if he was really on their side now, well, it was just ripe for disaster. Of course, he could have totally been looking for the worst possible option, but that was how he tried to be. Nari called it cynical, but he called it being prepared. Idly he wondered if it would be a good idea to try to get a conversation going again, but he wasn't sure if it'd be a good idea. Besides, what could they really talk about? How pretty the scenery was? As Nazo looked around however for the umpteenth time, he noticed that the undergrowth seemed thicker than it had been earlier. He shook his head. Probably just imagining things.

"They should be here soon," Chichiri said, getting to his feet. "Your sister and the other seishi should be showing up soon. I can sense them coming."

"Good," Nazo replied. "Once they're there, let's go to that Mt. Taikyoku place and see what we can do about sending Nari back to our own world."

"Are you sure you can even get that far?" a new voice spat out, and vines suddenly snaked out, seizing Nazo around the legs.

"What the-" he exclaimed and started to bend down when he was thrown to the ground. He twisted himself upright and struggled with the ropey tendrils. Shiho snapped a bomb off her chain and threw it to the ground. The trio was covered by smoke, and she pulled out a dagger and began sawing at the vines. He tore at them with fumbling fingers. Before she could completely free him, a huge vine snapped out of nowhere at her, striking her across the chest and knocking her down.

"Shiho!"

He tried to reach for her, but the vines held tight. He couldn't move. The smoke was thick, he was coughing from it; how could their unknown enemy see anything? Nazo kicked at his bonds, but more tendrils whipped out and seized his arms from behind. They flipped him back onto the ground and tightened around his wrists and ankles. He hit his head. As he tried to cry out, an obese root caught his waist from above and with a sudden tug, cut him off and lifted him hurtling backwards into the air.

"Nazo!"

"No!"

Already he was barely within hearing distance; the vines were moving at a speed hard to believe. He saw Shiho teleport to the spot he had been seconds ago, but it was already too late. The vines were changing, too; now they were thorny. As the vines slid forward, they wrapped closer and closer around his torso until he could feel the spines scratching against him and starting to break their way through his shirt. He was forced to a standing position with his limbs pulled back as the vines slowed and began to form a cocoon around him. More and more piled on him, pushing the layers already against him. Nazo screamed as the thorns pierced through first his clothing and then his skin. Blood leaked out. The pile of vines showed, a sign that he was probably near his attacker. Crap. Nazo gritted his teeth, not sure how much longer he could stand the pain. He had to keep his mind level however, or he wouldn't be able to get himself out of this situation, because he was definitely not going to die like this. The agony was like thousands of blunt needles. He started to black out when out of the corner of his eye, through the thick vines, he saw Shiho and Chichiri racing toward him. Nazo started to panic and his focus came back. "Get out of here!" he yelled. "Get out!" He started to fight even harder against the vines, bringing one arm forward and ignoring the thorns as they dug even further into his flesh. The harder he fought though, the tighter the vines tightened around him until almost a continuous stream of scarlet poured from his arm.

At least his jugular was fine, but really, this was no time for joking around.

Goddamnit, his sense of humor chose the best times to show up.

No. He was not about to give up, not when Nari was still missing. Besides, at least half an hour had to have passed, so Shoshi was probably going to show up within the next few minutes. Shiho was already injured, but he was sure the princess would be able to think of something. If she saw that Shiho was incapable of protecting him though, the consequences for his friend might be even worse than what he was going through. No. He had to get out without Shoshi's help. He could not let the fear coursing through him overtake him. It threatened to control him far more effectively than the trap he was in now. Try as he might to keep himself conscious however, he was losing the battle.

"No," he said weakly as he searched blindly for something to focus on, something to keep him awake and alert. Shiho was nowhere in sight, his vision was rapidly darkening, and the vines still digging into him. He could almost feel the loss of energy as more blood left his body. More and more vines wrapped around him until he was almost completely bound. Soon, they would reach his vital organs, and even if he was in a book, was it possible that he could really die?

Whatever destiny had pulled him here was definitely not a good one.

**x**

There had to be some way of getting him out. She considered pestering her parents for help, but most likely they'd just laugh it off. After all, who would believe her friend got sucked into a book? Kari checked the book again.

_And at that moment, the vines pierced the hero. Shiho, desperate to save her Priest, fought her way through the vines and when she reached him, slashed at them in a vain attempt to free him. The vines swung forward and tightened their grip around her and she continued to shout at the young man to wake up, to run away to safety. When she could not break free, ignoring her own numerous wounds, she teleported out and skidded down the huge plant, narrowly avoiding the branch that threatened to knock her down. The Suzaku seishi Chichiri was close behind, blasting any vines that hissed in front of them with his magic. It was however much more difficult for him to keep up._

_"Nazo! Wake up!" Shiho cried._

_However, there was no response. The hero remained unconscious and did not stir._

"No!" Kari shouted. She grabbed the scarf and stared at it helplessly. "Nazo, you can't die! You have to come back!" She didn't care if her parents came storming in asking what the hell was going on. "Nazo!" It was Nazo, the guy who had once been her best friend and secret love. She wasn't about to lose him now. "Idiot!" she cried. "I finally saw you again! Don't you dare die on me! You still have your scarf here!" Kari tightened her grip on the book and began yelling into it. "Nazo! Nazo!"

From far away, Nazo could hear someone calling out to him. Fire suddenly filled his vision, and he felt the cocoon weaken as flames licked at it from below. He fought to remain conscious, opening his eyes just in time to see Shiho get slashed again. She refused to give up however and teleported onto the vines that wove around and around him. The vines that had gotten burned seemed to be released from whatever was controlling them, and she manipulated them to hold her in position while she used her dagger to saw at the remaining vines.

"I'll get you out," she promised.

"Shiho! Stay back!" he pleaded. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

She merely laughed and swung to the right as yet another thick vine tried to knock her off. "No, it's your job to get into dangerous situations, mine to get you out."

_"Nazo!"_

Nazo jerked, then flinched as the thorns dug deeper from the movement. Kari? How the- what? Shiho flashed in front of him and grabbed his bonds.

"Shiho, get away!" he shouted, but it was too late. The vines rushed at her and slashed mercilessly. Blood sprayed onto his glasses. "Shiho!"

"_Nazo! Nazo!_"

It was that voice again. He shoved it aside and would have paid little attention to it if a violet light hadn't begun to shine around him. The pain reticified as the vines fell away. His fingers scrabbled against nothing as he tried to reach for Shiho. The light intensified and he saw the hand reaching for Shiho disappear. "No!" he shouted. "I can't leave! Nari, Shiho!" He struggled vainly, but it was no use. The last thing he saw was the look of relief that passed over Shiho's face and the vines that enveloped her instead as he faded away.

**x**

The door burst open and Kari's family crowded in.

"Kari! What on earth is going on?"

Kari whirled around in her seat. "Mom! Dad! Yuta!"

"Kari, it's almost midnight," her father exclaimed. "We could hear you yelling from all the way downstairs. What's going on? Explain yourself."

"I mean seriously, why are you yelling that loser's name?," Yuta asked as he rolled his eyes. "It's not like he's going to hear you."

"Now's not the time. My-"

A huge flash of light emitted from the book. Her parents gasped and fell against the wall. When she could see again, she saw her friend materialize on the floor, unconscious. A puddle of red formed around his body. His clothes were soaked in it and even his glasses were splashed.

Kari screamed.

* * *

_Next episode:_ Return to the Eastern Capital - Nazo's returned to the real world, Shiho's been grievously injured; what will happen next for the Tenkyoku seishi and their Summoner? Hey, at least Chichiri's not a trap?

* * *

_A/N: Ahahaha. So. Uh. I'm thinking of getting rid of the episode previews. I kinda suck at writing them, and since I keep changing what happens. Euhm. Seriously though! I'm not trying to delay their meeting (Okay, maybe I am a bit, but not really). Random ideas pop into my head and I want to implement them somehow. I've been brainstorming more on the world and what drives the characters to do what they do. It's kind of falling in all together, which is nice. Anyway. This chapter was very intense for me to write (ended up being my longest one, too). Part of the inspiration for what happened is from the roleplay I made of this concept several years ago on Gaia. Because it didn't play out the way this story is playing out however, there are definitely some major changes (for example: Nari and Nazo are already united by now, the main villain is actually someone else, and their goal is also very different. I forgot what else.. Shoshi has not shown up yet, but Shiho's brother has. Origins of the seishi are also very different.). I wish the roleplay could have continued, but it didn't. I've lost touch with the people I RPed with then, too. I still have this though, which was the original, and even if I don't talk to them anymore, I still have the thread. Therefore, I am content._

_Also. Also. Totally random. I was in Taiwan over the break, and I saw the four Gods! Haha. Not literally unfortunately, but I saw their symbols depicted on a mortuary and also a scroll that my grandgodfather has. If you want to see pictures of them, let me know and I can link you. I didn't get all of them from the mortuary. I was only able to get two of the gods. ;-; Still, it was pretty cool to see them, since, y'know. Yeah. xD_

_ANYWAY. I hope anyone who read this enjoyed the chapter!_

Seishi Information:

_Tei: Kyou 'harmonize.'_

_Until next time. c:_

/edit: As of May 12, 2011, I have moved one of the sections that I was worrying about. It will reappear at a later chapter.


	9. EP 09: Return to the Eastern Capital

_A/N: Hello there, reader! Thank you for keeping up with my story. I thought I'd add a note that beginning with this chapter, I have removed Nari's illness. I have gone back and edited the previous chapters subsequently. I have also fixed some issues with POV jumping around. _

**Episode Nine: Return to the Eastern Capital**

Chichiri was ticked. Ticked and worried. Although he had been tracking the movements of Takayama Shii and his followers for years, it disturbed him that they had somehow managed to recruit seishi to their side. Tatara from the looks of it. Who else? Any of the Suzaku seishi? No, it couldn't be. None of them could be swayed that easily.

Right?

He would have said that about Tatara, too. Not that he had had any chance to meet the Byakko seishi yet, but from what he knew of the seishi from the past, he had a strong will, one not easily fooled by the sweet words of the enemy. Had he missed some vital clue in his travels? His magic allowed him to transform his appearance and even now he was taking advantage of it so that others would trust him more easily. The appearance of the first Chichiri did not match his own and he wore it only so that people would recognize him as his reincarnation. In reality, they both still had the same blue hair and brown eyes, but the features were different and his mask one he had made himself. People in Kounan knew what the first Chichiri had looked like and as a result, they trusted him when he wore that Chichiri's face. It was of great importance that they trusted him, because it was highly possible that one day he would need to rally them behind him and the other Suzaku seishi again. In his travels, he had heard rumors of trouble brewing in the west, something regarding the mythical Tenkyoku, who was rumored to be protector of not only Nyosei but also the satellite countries of the four main ones. People were gathering. Their exact intent he did not know, but he did know that it was not for peace. Now with the alleged "Summoner" of Tenkyoku arriving into their world, what sort of part would he play in the twisting, weaving plot that was developing? And this sister of his that he had mentioned. For him, there was no doubt who the Summoner was; it had to have been the young man he met. It could not be his sister. He had only spent a short amount of time with the young man, but he possessed the same inner strength that Miaka had had. It was not possible that his sister be the Priestess and him not. True, he was a bit hotheaded, but that didn't mean it was a fault. The fact that he had been the one attacked also confirmed this. The enemy would not waste resources on someone who did not have the power to summon Tenkyoku. They would not risk revealing that they had seishi on their side if they did not think it was something that had to be taken care. So what was going on with the sister? Could it be through some other witchcraft that she had been brought to this world? Was that even possible? Had he underestimated Shii's power and influence? If she had been brought here by other forces, was it even possible for the seishi to send her back? As much as he didn't want to admit it, he needed Taiitsukun's counsel.

It was not the time to make hasty decisions and possibly jump to the wrong conclusions. Right now, the most important thing was to save the young man. He was perceptive enough to have picked up their names during the conversation. Shiho, for that was what the young man, Nazo, had called the girl with him, had raced ahead already, far out of sight. Chichiri recognized that feeling. He had seen it in the other Suzaku seishi when Miaka had been in trouble and he had experienced it for himself in his first reincarnation. Now it was what drove him to race across the trees in unfamiliar territory to save what could be their most important wild card in the war that was developing throughout the world.

Chichiri blasted his way through a wall of vines that suddenly blocked his way. The writhing mess collapsed and fell apart, and he jumped over it. Damn it. Where was the puppetmaster, or in this case, the vinemaster? If he could find him, this fight would be over. Ahead of him, he could hear screaming and yelling. He cursed and slammed his staff into the branch he was crouched on, causing an explosion that shriveled the vines in front of him. Chichiri vaulted over the debris with his staff. Locate the chi, locate the chi... Ahead of him, fire erupted in the vines, and he swore again. Damn it. He was taking too long.

"Ah, if it isn't Taiitsukun's wretched servant," he heard the same cool voice say behind him, and he whirled around. The vines parted, revealing a young man dressed in the style of Sairou. Most of his dark brown hair was tied behind his back, but a few locks still hung loose. His long bangs covered one of his grey eyes, and his mouth was grim. Around his neck was a string of seeds. The stranger was tall, at least six feet, and Chichiri recognized him immediately.

The monk tightened his grip on his staff. "Tatara," he said evenly. "It's you, isn't it? Why are you doing this?"

"I don't need to answer that," Tatara replied. "You wouldn't understand."

Chichiri flared up. "Understand what?! You just attacked another country's Summoner! What good reason did you have for that? Are you _trying_ to bring war to your country?"

Tatara's eyes flashed. "No. I'm trying to prevent it."

"You're trying to -"

"I told you you wouldn't understand."

"You don't make sense!"

"Think of the nation that Tenkyoku is the guardian of!" Tatara said fiercely. "You really think. Knowing what you know about what's going on, that they will help us? No! They will simply make things worse!" He paused as if something had caught his attention, and then he smiled. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. I've finished my work here."

"Tatara!" Chichiri shouted, but before he could chase after the Byakko seishi, vines abruptly surrounded him and he toppeled to the ground, his limbs bound. His staff fell uselessly with him and rolled to a stop several feet away.

"I can't have you following me. Out of respect for our past alliance, I won't kill you right now," Tatara said as he turned away. "Keep in mind I hold no such qualms for those aligned with Tenkyoku." That said, he took off, jumping from tree to tree until he was out of sight.

"Tatara!"

Chichiri yelled after the Byakko seishi a few more times, but it was useless. He bonked his head against the dirt floor and gritted his teeth. He had really made a mess of things, hadn't he? Suzaku. Well, he wasn't about to give up now. Shiho was still somewhere out there, and if he were to believe Tatara (which he did), she was either dead or near death. He had to do what he could to help her.

But damn it, he couldn't get loose. He looked around for some rocks he could use to saw the vines off, but there were none sharp enough. Chichiri groaned. Great. Now what to do?

**x**

Nari tightened her grip around Shoshi's waist as the three of them raced through the forest. She was doing her best to remain calm even though her hands were clammy. The brusque way Shoshi had been acting since she returned from speaking to her mother frightened her, but she was even more afraid to ask why. Instead, she had mutely gone along with everything. The clothes she wore now reminded her of the TV dramas that Nazo used to watch. They were colorfully decorated and warm due to the layers of cotton and silk. When she had first put on the silk overcoat, she had balked, but Shoshi urged her to put it on, saying it was needed. Not knowing what else to say, Nari could only bite her lip and slip it on. Now she calculated that what she was wearing now was probably more expensive than anything else she had ever worn. It was an awkward thought to have in her head and again she berated herself for being distracted by material matters.

And the horse. Riding the horse was so much more different than she would have expected. It had been so much harder to climb up its back than she had thought it would be. Since there were no other women to help her like last time, it had taken a good five, maybe ten minutes, it seemed to her, until she was able to stay steady on the horse's back. She was sure that Shoshi was losing her patience with her. Once that ordeal was over, Nari had held herself stiffly so not to fall backwards while the other two got on. Almost immediately, Tei had scampered up her leg and clamored onto her shoulder, squeaking comfortingly into her ear as if it could sense her discomfort. It cheered her to have a companion who could read her so well, tiny though he was.

"Hold on," Shoshi had said. "And don't worry about hurting the horse or me."

Nari silently obliged, but was unable to prevent herself from gasping a little when Shoshi started the horse off in a gallop from a dead start. She squeezed her eyes, trying not to imagine what would happen if she were to slip off.

Once she managed to gather her bearings, she found that riding the horse wasn't actually too bad, even if it did jolt her and make her feel like she was doing splits repeatedly. It was certainly more exhilarating than anything else she had ever done before. She was certain that prolonged riding would make her extremely sore, but hopefully that was something she could become accustomed to. Her left cheek rested on Shoshi's back, and she peeked an eye open to watch the scenery speed past them. Even if she didn't know what was going to happen to Nazo and her now, she was still secretly glad that they had come here. If she had never come here, she would have never seen the sights she was seeing now. The forest that they were galloping through was nothing like the tamed versions she had seen before in Japan. This was no park. It was alive. The undergrowth was a thick emerald green and the trees stretched far above her until she could barely make out the darkening sky. They rode on no path, instead leaping over fallen trees and rocks when the need arose.

A swallow flitted by them and chirped out a message. Shoshi nodded and she abruptly directed the horse after the bird.

Suddenly, they came across a person lying on the ground. He was struggling against some sort of green rope that tied his limbs to his body. Startled, they were barely able to clear him, and Shoshi just managed to wheel the horse around without losing their balance. She immediately leaped off and pulled out her sword, pointing it at the man's throat. Nari almost fell off the horse when Shoshi did that, having not expected her support to suddenly disappear like that. She caught herself just in time and awkwardly slid off the horse.

"Give me one good reason why I should not run you through with my sword right now," Shoshi said.

"I'm not your enemy," the man responded.

"Not good enough." She was about to stab him when Nari grabbed her arm.

"Shoshi, wait!" Nari cried. "He's bound. Something must have happened! Men don't voluntarily come to this island like this, right?"

The look that Shoshi gave her was a long one, but she finally lowered her sword. "Out of respect for the girl's wishes, I will give you a chance to explain yourself then. However, if you try anything, I will not hesitate to kill you."

"Thank you, no da," the stranger said.

Tei scampered down Nari's shoulder and began working on the vines furiously with its teeth. For a second, Nari caught a bemused expression on Shoshi's face, but just as fast, it disappeared. Without saying anything, the princess knelt and began sawing at the bonds with her sword. When he was finally free, Shoshi backed away. Her sword was still pointed at him, but it was nowhere near as it had been earlier. Tei lingered by his side, ready to pounce if he attempted something.

"Now explain," Shoshi said.

The young man (because he didn't look that much older than Shoshi) brushed the last of the vines off of his body and stood shakily. "My name is Suzaku seishi Chichiri," he said with a slight bow. "Now if you don't mind waiting for an explanation, we need to save Shiho and Nazo."

Nari's hand flew to her mouth. Nazo! What had happened to him? Before she could say anything however, Shoshi stopped him with her sword. "What did you just say?" the princess asked silkily.

"We were attacked by Byakko seishi Tatara," he said, his gaze steady on Shoshi's face rather than the blade at his neck. "He ambushed us. Dragged the young man away before either of us could do anything. Shiho took off after him immediately, no da. I couldn't catch up with your two friends, and I fear for their lives. We must track them down."

"How do I know it is not a trap?"

Nari watched as Chichiri seemed to struggle with something inside of him. He closed his eyes and it was a moment before he spoke. "You just have to trust me, no da."

"Trust. That is placing much in a complete stranger, even one who claims that he is a Suzaku seishi."

"I swear on Suzaku's shrine that I am telling the truth, no da."

Something about that statement seemed to release some of the tension in Shoshi, but she retained her position. "How do you know who we are?"

He looked down. "The young man, Nazo, he mentioned something about his sister coming. He asked if there was a way to send her back to her own world." Chichiri hesitated. "I heard rumors of Tenkyoku being involved in some sort of coup, so I-" He flinched as Shoshi thrust the blade forward, causing it to ring in the otherwise silent forest.

"You what?" she asked, the sword touching his neck but not breaking the skin.

He met her gaze steadily. "Rumors, no da. You should know as well as I do that the existence of Tenkyoku is taken more as a myth than truth. I've been sent by Taiitsukun to study the situation and report back to her."

"Surely Taiitsukun should believe in Tenkyoku, as she is the one who passed down our copy of the Universe of the Four Gods to Nyosei?"

He was not surprised by that admission; it was more like he had been expecting it. "Yes," he said. "Taiitsukun does, but she asked me to travel the countries to learn what the people believed, no da. The worshipers of Tenkyoku are spread out, not organized as they are in the other four countries. Nyosei as I can understand is the stronghold, but there are also many satellite countries that also believe in her as their guardian. There are some in the main countries who believe that this is dangerous, a threat to their own security."

Shoshi's grip on her sword relaxed slightly, but Nari could tell she was still distrustful of Chichiri. "You speak of other countries," the princess said. "What do you mean?"

"I don't mind explaining it to you later, but rescuing Shiho and Nazo are of vital importance," he replied. "They never told me their names, but I heard them screaming for each other after he was taken. As I know it, Shiho is the name of one of Tenkyoku's seishi." A wry smile graced his face. "She also did not behave like a typical Nyosein woman would towards a man, no da. That was another hint."

Shoshi was silent. Nari glanced back and forth between Chichiri and Shoshi. If the man was speaking the truth, oh she didn't want to think about what could have happened to her brother. At the same time, she was afraid of asking Shoshi to believe him. The princess had already called her naïve; if she asked for him to trust Chichiri, would her naivety destroy the three of them? Tei clamored back onto her shoulder and rubbed his furry face against her cheek. It comforted her if only a little.

"Please!" Chichiri said, his fear now visible. "The more we stand here, the more time we waste! Tatara took off as soon as he incapacitated me. I'm afraid of what he might have done to the two of them!"

It was impossible to read the mask on Shoshi's face, but what she said next relieved Nari. "I do not know what business you have interfering with our nation, but let us go," the princess said and slid her sword back in the sheath at her side. "My horse cannot take three, and I do not trust you to ride your own mount, so we shall run."

Nari bit her lip. Running? She wasn't sure she could handle that too well. At the same time, she was afraid of speaking up for fear of delaying them. The princess caught the apprehensive look in her eyes and softened. "Get on my back," she said. "I will carry you. It will be faster that way." Shoshi glanced over at the squirrel on Nari's shoulder. "Tei," she added. "Be useful. Ride on the Suzaku seishi's shoulder. Bite him, climb over his face, trip him, do whatever it takes if you feel he is about to betray us in any way."

The squirrel chittered and jumped down and bounded onto Chichiri's shoulder. Nari could tell he was stunned and wondered if the squirrel was really a seishi. It was an interesting thought. If a squirrel could be a seishi, what else could be? A tree? A rock? She mused over the thought as she herself climbed onto Shoshi's back. Her heart pounded. Nazo. He would be all right, right? He was stronger than her; he'd never be killed in this world. Chichiri's fears couldn't be realized.

"Do not worry," Shoshi said softly so that only she could hear her. "I will take care of you if something happens."

That hadn't been what she had been worried about at all, but Nari could only nod. "Thank you," she murmured.

"I must also add that your brother is no longer in our world," Shoshi said. "I cannot sense him. Perhaps due to the trauma he was drawn back to your world."

"Thank god," Nari whispered. She was relieved, so relieved. At least she didn't have to worry about Nazo. The thought of being alone in this world threatened to overwhelm her, but she reminded herself that she had Shoshi. Shoshi wasn't going to let anything happen to her, and if her brother could find a way home, surely she could, too.

Chichiri picked up a metal staff off to the side that Nari hadn't noticed and adjusted the navy cloak around his shoulders so it wouldn't get in his way. "Let's go," he said grimly.

**x**

"Oh god.." Kari whispered, frozen. Her gaze was locked on Nazo's prone body. What was she supposed to do? Call the police? How could she explain what happened? Say Nazo's injuries came from being attacked in a book? They would throw her in an insane asylum first, and then how could she help him?

"Kari, what's going on? How did he just suddenly appear out of nowhere?"

"Call an ambulance," she said. "Please!"

Her father seemed like he wanted to continue, but he refrained from doing so and ran down the stairs. Her mother came up to where she was standing and touched her arm. "Kari," she said, a pleading note in her voice. "Kari, please, what just happened?"

Kari ignored her mother. Slowly she approached Nazo, her steps hesitant. She touched him gently on the shoulder, afraid he might be dead, but his breathing was shallow. Good, so he was still alive, but god, why was there so much blood? What could she do to help him? Quickly she grabbed the blanket off her bed and draped it over him. Keep him warm, yes, that was the first part. She wanted to try to stop the bleeding, but there was so much blood! Where to even start? Better to wait for the professionals to arrive, she thought painfully. Now for the ambulance to come. If she tried to shift him to a more comfortable position, she might cause an internal injury. Or something. Something like that. First aid was not her strong suit. She caught her brother's eye and saw that he was glowering. She begged him silently not to say anything. To this he pursued his lips and stomped out.

"An ambulance is coming," her father said tersely as he came back to her room. "Now do you want to explain how this young man suddenly materialized into your room?"

"I-I don't know for sure," she replied faintly. How was she going to explain this? She glanced helplessly over at the book her friend had come from, but it gave her no answers.

"He just, he just appeared out of nowhere!" her mother exclaimed. She edged towards Nazo and crouched down. "Kari! This, this person, isn't he your friend from high school?"

Kari nodded mutely.

"What's he- how did he?"

"Please don't say anything about this to anyone!" Kari blurted out.

"What?! But-"

"Never mind," her father said as the phone rang. "The ambulance is here. Let's get him to the hospital first. I'll lead them upstairs. Kari can explain everything later."

Kari closed her eyes as her father left her room. She knew that the ambulance drivers were only that – drivers. She could only hope that traffic would be clear and that they could get her friend to the hospital in time. If her friend went into shock, there was nothing the drivers would be able to do for him. At least he was out of that damn book however. All she had to do now was make sure he never touched it again. As for his sister, she would figure out another way to get her out.

**x**

Nari hugged Shoshi tightly as they ran through the forest. Her face was buried in the princess' shoulder, afraid of what they would find. Again they were led by one of Shoshi's paper creations, who flitted from tree to tree as they moved at a more or less even pace. The smell of sulfur and copper was thick in the air before they reached their goal and so it came to be no surprise when they rounded the bend and found a white-haired bloody mess that could only be the missing Shiho.

"Oh my god," Nari gasped. The others were equally horrified although none of them vocalized it. It was almost impossible to distinguish human from plant, so intertwined were the two of them. As they edged closer, they saw that the vines were not embedded as deeply into her flesh as they had feared. There was merely such a mass of them that they draped around her like silk, albeit with none of the gentle touch that material had.

Chichiri was the first to reach her. He crouched next to her and felt her pulse. "We have to get help," Chichiri said through gritted teeth. "Let's go. I'll bring her to Taiitsukun. Nyan Nyan can heal her."

"He has been correct so far," Shoshi whispered only so Nari could hear. "We will trust him for now." She released her grip on Nari's legs and bent down so Nari could slide to the ground. Nari was about to run over to the girl when Shoshi grabbed her arm. "Wait," she said, her voice unusually gentle. "Perhaps you should stay back."

"No," Nari said. "She was protecting my brother when she got into this state. I have to help her."

Shoshi released her, but the expression on her face was unreadable. "If you wish then," was her reply.

Nari nodded. She held her breath as she approached the body on the ground. Her heart pounded. The unconscious girl before her wasn't some vicious animal; she was merely a girl not much older than herself. If like Shoshi she had only met Nazo a few hours ago, the loyalty Shiho had showed him was admirable. Nari had no idea where her brother was right now, but one thing she could do for him was focus her attention on the person who had seen him last and fought so desperately to protect him. Nari knelt down next to the seishi and touched her hand. "Shiho?" she asked. "Shiho, can you hear me?"

There was no answer, not that she had expected one. The girl's breathing was shallow, barely there. Nari steeled herself. Well, if Shiho wasn't awake, she had to do whatever she could to help her. Most importantly, they needed to keep her warm so she would not go into shock. She stripped off her outer layer and was about to lay it over Shiho when she hesitated. Probably best to remove the vines first. Nari set the clothing aside and began to pick through the vines, delicately removing them from Shiho's body. As soon as they realized what she was doing, both Shoshi and Chichiri began to help. The thorns had punctured Shiho's body and removing them out was difficult work. Her fingers were bloodied by the time she finished, although most of it wasn't her own. There was no water around them so she could only hope that whenever they got to the place Chichiri was going on about, they would be able to find some in order to clean the wounds. She didn't even want to think about the bacteria that might be in the dirt. The possibility of an infection from the injuries was frightening. Even so, there was nothing she could do but pray that the girl would be all right. It was a wonder she was still alive.

"It is in Tenkyoku's hands now," Shoshi said softly.

Chichiri was all business. He slipped his cloak off his back and laid it on the ground. Gently he picked Shiho up, adjusting her so he could support her easily in his arms. "Give me your jacket," he said to Nari.

Nari picked up the layer she had discarded and draped it gently over Shiho. It didn't provide much protection but at least it was something.

"I'll take us to Taiitsukun, no da. Step through the cloak."

Shoshi took Nari's hand. "Come," she said. Nari had no time to wonder how they could be transported simply by a mere piece of cloth. Then again, she was in an unfamiliar world, so what did it matter what made sense and what didn't? Tei had somehow found his way to what he had apparently designated as his shoulder to perch on.

The two of them walked onto the cloak and they fell through.

* * *

_Next episode:_ The Holy Mountain and the Frightening Face - Nari and the others find their way to Mt. Taikyoku where they meet an oracle with a frightening face and adorable goddess clones. Nazo and Kari reconcile somewhat, but will Kari be willing to let Nazo back into the book?

* * *

A/N: I decided to keep the episode previews because even if they're extremely cheesy, they're still fun for me to write as long as I don't worry about how cheesy they sound. However! Feel free to skip them. xD


	10. EP 10: The Holy Mountain

_A/N: Hi! It's been a while. I was in grad school and am finishing up this month, so I pushed myself to finally finish this chapter. Hope you enjoy it!_

**Episode Ten: The Holy Mountain and the Frightening Face**

Light filtered through the bamboo shoots that made up the shabbily made hut Yu and his widowed mother lived in. Yu shielded his eyes and considered repairing the hut after he had breakfast when he remembered what day it was. He rolled off his straw mattress and grabbed his tattered blue jacket from the floor. After he dressed quickly, he made his way over to the little shrine dedicated to his father and kowtowed before it three times. A taste of bitterness filled his mouth and he rose to his feet. Since yesterday, something niggled at the back of his mind to return to Nyosei. That very thought made him sick to the stomach though, and he immediately made his decision to leave the next day. Everything was packed already in a bag, which he slung over his shoulder as he passed it. Next to it was the long iron rod that he had kept close to him for the last five years. He grabbed that, too. His long violet hair was wrapped in a braid around his head to keep it out of his way, and his bangs were purposely long to hide his dark blue eyes. If eyes were the window to the soul, he didn't want anyone looking in. It was not going to be his first time leaving Meitou, one of the satellite countries of Kutou, and he knew through hard-won experience that naivety was a terrible companion.

Just as he was about to step outside, his mother rushed to him and seized his arm.

"Yu! You cannot truly be thinking of doing this!" she said. "What about your destiny?"

Yu gritted his teeth. They had gone through this multiple times now. "Five years ago, the women of Nyosei told me very loud and clear what they thought of my destiny, Mother," he said. "You and I know their answer very well."

His mother's stricken face shamed him, but not enough to lessen his determination. No gentle words were going to sway him. He didn't want their goodbye to go sour however, so he tried to salvage it. "I'm sorry, I-" he started to say, but his mother interrupted him.

"It doesn't matter, your father would not have wanted you to do this."

"Father. Is no longer around."

"But..."

He yanked his arm free and turned his back to her. "I won't kill anyone," he said. "I just want to do some investigation, and I can't do that living in Meitou. I must go to Sairou."

It was a false promise and they both knew it. If he was pushed, he wouldn't hesitate to kill. Gone were the days when he would sit passively by. He was no longer weak and helpless.

"Sairou is so far, Yu. I don't want you to go so far again."

It was a weak argument, one he knew his mother tried anyway in an attempt to get him to stay. He said nothing. He knew it was far, but Sairou was where the answers to his questions lay. "It'll be fine," he said. "My decision has been made already. You can't change my mind."

He had been delayed for far too long now. Without another word, he stepped outside and slammed the door behind him. His mother's sobs faded as he walked down the road. A large part of the reason why she also wept was because she was a woman and a widowed one at that. It was taboo for her to remarry, and without a man in the house, life would become that much more difficult. It was unusual for anyone to leave the village; the trip he and his father had taken that fateful year had attracted the attention of the entire village, elders included. When he returned alone, he and his mother had become the laughingstock of the village. He gritted his teeth as he remembered the painful memories.

"Tenkyoku?" they laughed. "Tenkyoku doesn't exist! It was Seiryuu who punished you for your hubris! To proclaim yourself as one of the seishi of the mythical creator of the world, how is it that you weren't killed, too? We all know that it's Taiitsukun,and Taiitsukun doesn't have any seishi!"

They were cruel, but Yu remained civil towards them. He and his mother's lives depended on it. Even though he had been rejected and a merciless point made to him, his mother still refused to believe that his destiny as a Tenkyoku seishi was a good one. She argued, tried to rationalize that all the seishi in the old times had had difficult lives, and this was just one of the ways the gods tested them. He put up with it, as only a faithful, albeit irritated son put up with it, because he knew it was the only way she could cope with the loss of his father. It was why it had taken him so long to leave. He lent his hand out to any of the farmers who would take him; just the two of them couldn't manage a plot of land by themselves, so they usually worked for Yu's mother's relatives. Bit by bit, he saved what he could so that his mother would have enough to live by when he made his journey. However, his plans had been interrupted yesterday, and he had not been able to save up enough. Nevertheless, he had to leave. He could only count on his mother's relatives to take care of her and not turn her out. He doubted they would do that, but somehow, he would find a way to support his mother. Filial piety was important, but this mission of his was more important. Yu had heard rumors about a group in the west starting a revolution against the gods. He intended to learn what he could about them. Gods? He spat on the ground. Being a seishi wasn't a blessing; it was a curse, and he refused to walk towards his destiny. He had tried that five years ago, and he had been completely, totally rejected. If anyone tried to recruit him over to her side now, he would reject them just as completely and totally.

Nothing could make up for the loss he had already suffered.

**x**

They arrived at Mt. Taikyoku with much less fanfare than she would have expected for a holy mountain. As soon as Chichiri touched ground, he raced into the pagoda with Shiho in his arms, leaving Shoshi, Tei, and Nari behind to follow along more slowly. Shoshi had heard rumors about this place all her life but had never actually met someone who had been here before. If only the pure-hearted could find or see this mountain, then she was a better person than she believed. The rock mountains were dotted with shrubs as far as she could see, and they were standing in front of the magnificent pagoda, albeit only a two-tiered one. The walls were vivid red and the tiled ceilings green. Gold arcs completed the building. Purple bubbles floated all around them. Why they did so she had no idea, but she imagined Taiitsukun liked them. As Shoshi gazed around the serene landscape, she wondered for a moment whether the seething anger inside her was appropriate for such a place. She was about to meet the Creator. She was supposed to be brimming with reverence and respect and awe, but none of that was happening.

"It's beautiful," Nari murmured, interrupting her thoughts. Tei squeaked in agreement. "I've never imagined I'd see something like this before. Are there other places like this?"

Shoshi did not reply. If she spoke, she was afraid she would reveal her true feelings. A part of her cautioned against speaking harshly to the other seishi, especially when she was wounded, but the rage refused to let her go.

Shiho had failed in her most sacred duty.

She could not forgive that so easily. Not when that was a mantra that had been pounded so deeply into her own self. She knew that it was difficult for her to understand a seishi's duty from anyone else's point of view, but even so. A seishi's only purpose was to protect her Summoner, and Shiho had failed. There were very few instances when a Priestess, or Priest in Nazo's case, returned to their own world. Extreme danger was one of them. The other seishi had been careless and had almost paid for it with both Nazo's and her own life. How could she forgive such a dire mistake?

But, she counseled herself, if she could not look past this, it was highly possible that she would not be able to work with the other girl, and that, more than her own personal feelings, was far more important. They had to summon Tenkyoku. She forced herself to remember this. Nazo was alive. Supposedly. She clung to that as if it could stem the flood of anger that threatened to overwhelm her. As long as she remembered that, she could keep her cool. Hopefully. She could rage all she wanted to inside, but if she were to do so at Shiho at their first encounter, it would splinter their relationship and future interactions in a way that could be hopelessly detrimental to their common cause.

"Shoshi?"

Shoshi realized that Nari was waiting for her response. "I do not know," she replied. "I have not ventured from Nyosei very often. I have only heard stories from the other countries. As for Mt. Taikyoku, only those with a pure heart can come here. If you do not have one, all you will see is a barren landscape."

"That seems like a unique requirement."

"Mt. Taikyoku is home to the Creator of our world," Shoshi replied. "It makes sense."

They paused at the foot of the steps. Nari, who Shoshi had noticed could be extremely hesitant, seemed afraid to step inside. "You said Creator?" Nari asked.

"Yes. Taiitsukun is the Creator of our world. We are going to see her now."

"And she is the only one?"

"Yes. Why do you ask that?"

Nari laughed softly. "Back in my own world, there are many religious groups that claim that their god or gods are what created the world. There's been far too much religious warfare in our history. Our religion is the one truth. No, ours is. If you don't believe in what the majority believes in, you're branded. If you don't believe in anything, then-" she shook her head. "It must be nice to know that there is only one truth in your world and that it's the real one."

"Who knows? Maybe we are all fools, regardless of what world we come from. How can humans know what is really truth if truth is something that belongs to the gods?" The shadow of a smile flitted across Shoshi's face. "And even in our world, there is war. You can believe in imposing your will on others with good intentions, never paying heed to the unlikely fact that those you wish to help do not want your help at all."

"We can only move uncertainly towards the future," Nari said. She glanced down at Tei, who stared back at her with innocent, blank eyes. "It must be nice to be an animal and unaware of these," she said as she scratched under his chin. The squirrel raised his head and closed his eyes with pleasure as he let out a contented sigh. Then she looked up towards the palace, where Chichiri had already disappeared into. Nari bit her lip and took the first step up. Shoshi followed after her. As they walked up the stairs, glowing purple bubbles floated into view. Shoshi hardly noticed them and kept walking, but stopped when she realized Nari had paused again. Her eyes were fixed on the bubbles, which moved hypnotically towards them. "I wish my brother could see this," Nari said. She waved her arm over the entire structure. "This. He would have loved it. He's a huge fan of anything from the past." It looked like she was about to cry, but she was able to control it after a minute. "He's all right, right?" she asked. "After seeing what happened to Shiho, I'm- I. I'm scared for him."

"It is natural to be scared," Shoshi said, and with those words, she felt herself relent the rest of the way. "It is whether or not we can surpass our fear and not be controlled by them that is the question. I am sure your brother is fine."

Actually, Shoshi had no idea, but she did not want to scare Nari unnecessarily. Even if the girl wasn't the Priestess of Tenkyoku like she had thought she would be, Shoshi still wanted to watch out for her. It was possible for them to interact in a way that would have been impossible with her own women. She cherished the bond they were developing. It was wrong, but she still did and that disturbed her. If she were forced to pick between the two siblings, would she make the correct decision?

"Priest's sister! Priest's sister!"

A ball of energy charged at them. Shoshi stepped automatically in front of Nari. Her hand went to her fire gem. The warmth of a ready flame reassured her, and her fingers slid under the clasp, ready to throw it into the air. There was no need to worry however. The ball unrolled, revealing a petite girl with cyan hair and big brown eyes. "Princess, princess!" the girl said. "Princess here with Priest's sister and squirrel seishi!"

"Who are you?" Shoshi demanded.

The girl multiplied before her eyes, and Nari gasped. Shoshi took a step back, her hand still on the gem. She doubted that the girl, even if she did have a peculiar ability, would be dangerous, but just in case.

"Nyan Nyan! We are Nyan Nyan!" One of the girls swirled over and grabbed Nari and Shoshi's hand. "Come with us! Meet Taiitsukun!"

Despite their protests, the two of them were pulled along. Tei scrambled around, unable to get a good grip on Nari's shoulder. Shoshi cupped her hand under his rump and popped him back on the girl's shoulder. He clicked at her.

She was finally able to smile a bit. Maybe they could get along after all.

"Tei, be careful!" Nari scolded. He cocked his head at her as if he did not understand, and she giggled.

It was the gilded pillars that held Nari's attention. She kept looking at them, her eyes lingering on each pillar as she walked through the hallway, then flipping to the next one. There was an almost childlike joy in the way her eyes slid back and forth. They were beautiful, Shoshi had to agree. Still, one of them had to stay focused. Tei wasn't much better off. He kept chittering and running back and forth on Nari's shoulders. Shoshi faced front, her gaze steady on the little girl that bounced a few feet ahead of them. The worst of her anger was abating, but she still had to fight to keep it in check.

"The Priest of Tenkyoku is-" Taiitsukun started to say, but was interrupted by the little goddesses' happy cries.

"Safe! Safe in own world!" Nyan Nyan cheered.

"Quiet!" the deity roared.

All the Nyan Nyan instantly shut up.

Shoshi almost cracked a smile. Almost. She did not have time for this nonsense. "When will he return? How will he get back? Where can I find him?"

"He is beyond my reach right now," Taiitsukun replied. "But as a Tenkyoku seishi, especially one of your level, you should be able to sense him when he returns. If you can't, you will somehow find your way to him. These things always happen."

That was true. And now it was confirmed that Nari really was not the Priestess. If Taiitsukun said it was so, then it must be. The only part about that that bothered her however was that she had not immediately sensed that Nazo was the Summoner. It was why she had gone after Nari first. There was something that had blurred her senses when the two siblings must have arrived. She did not like it at all. Even now, there was that haze around Nari. Adding on to what Chichiri had said, none of this boded well for Nyosei. Setting aside that problem, she turned to another one. "The other girl. Shiho. Where is she?"

"Recuperating! She recuperating! Wounds bad! " one brave Nyan Nyan dared to yell as Taiitsukun's face met her palm. Apparently even the deity was willing to give up on lost causes.

"Can we go see her?" Nari asked.

"No! Needs her rest! Take you to your room for the night instead!" the girl bounced happily as she replied and she floated off in the direction she had come from. Nari started to follow, but she hesitated when she saw that Shoshi was not coming with her.

"Go," Shoshi said. "I must discuss something with Chichiri."

Nari nodded and turned to chase the Nyan Nyan, who was already halfway down the hall. Shoshi turned her attention back to Chichiri, who was looking at her expectantly. They regarded each other for a moment before Shoshi spoke. "It seems you told us the truth."

He smiled. "Seems?"

"Thank you for helping us," Shoshi replied, refusing to banter with him. It was beneath her. He was just a man. Nazo she would show some respect because he was the Summoner, like it or not, but this blue-haired monk? He was nothing to her. That was what she wanted to believe at least, but he had gotten them this far, and he had information that she needed.

She went straight to the topic. "What did you mean when you said Tenkyoku protected the satellite countries?"

He blinked. His response only deepened her worry.

**x**

It was odd to think that here she was, walking in what was essentially Heaven in this world. Nari wasn't Christian or even religious at all, but it still such an interesting feeling, almost bewildering. Then once again, there was that guilt for getting distracted. If what had happened to Shiho had also happened to her brother, then he could be dying. But... they had entered the book in the cafe, right? Surely there would be people around. He wouldn't bleed to death. He couldn't. Cafes were usually open until late. At least that was how she reassured herself, even if it didn't really help.

The hallway that Nari stepped into after she caught up with the Nyan Nyan shone with a soft, lilac light from which she could see no source. The ceiling glittered. She caught her breath. As she walked down the hallway, she came upon a gigantic golden statue of a bird that towered over her. A phoenix, perhaps? She was not as well-informed in mythology as her brother, but it reminded her of... something. As her eyes slid up, she saw that a beautiful painted scroll hung behind the statue. Facing her was a man swathed in red. His red hair swept upward, with four long bangs framing his face. A character was painted in red on the middle of his forehead.

"That Suzaku!"

Nari jumped and Tei squeaked as he scrambled to hold onto her shoulder. He scolded the Nyan Nyan behind her angrily as she grinned at them.

"Look at later! Come, come, now!"

She grabbed Nari's wrist and dragged her out of the hallway and into a small room. Unlike the hallway, it was brightly lit and had a window. A little table stood next to the bed and there was a larger one in the center of the room. The Nyan Nyan bustled about, making the already made bed and rearranged the flowers in the vase on the big table.

"No accommodations ready for squirrel," she said. "Give me some time and I will prepare something!"

Nari would have giggled if everything didn't feel so surreal and the Nyan Nyan wasn't obviously trying so hard to figure out how to prepare said accommodations. The little girl was floating all over, opening drawers and fluffing the blankets. She even wrung her hands. "It's fine," Nari said. "He can sleep on my pillow." She glanced at Tei. "That okay with you?"

The squirrel tilted his head and squeaked once. Nari took that as indication that he did not care. The Nyan Nyan twirled in relief and bowed to Nari. "Nyan Nyan head out now then! Tend to Shiho!" Before Nari could even say goodbye, the little girl was out of the room.

Nari collapsed on the bed, and Tei jumped off her shoulder onto the little she watched, he began to preen himself. It was hard to believe she had been in school just earlier today. What was going to happen now? She didn't see herself finding a way home before tomorrow, which meant that most likely she would be reported as absent. Too many days, and there was the chance that they might think her delinquent and her brother a bad caretaker. She had to find a way home. If her brother had, then surely she could. There had to be another way besides near death. Maybe if she thought loudly enough, he would hear her and be able to pull her back, too?

"Nazo," she called. "Nazo. Nazo!"

Her repeated cries gradually turned into sobbing whispers, but she received no response, from her brother, from anyone else. A large lump rose in her hoarse throat. Never before had she felt so lonely. She fell back onto the bed and closed her eyes. Her last conscious thought was of something furry nudging itself under her arm.

* * *

_Next episode: _The Squirrelly Truth - Now that they are at Mt. Taikyoku, what will they find out? Nari and Shiho meet, the Tenkyoku seishi discover Tei's power, and a new point of view is thrown into the mix! Again.


End file.
